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Real-time map of every Starlink satellite in orbit

starlinkmap.org

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Re: Real-time map of every Starlink satellite in orbit

#121

Post by elif »

averageRoyalty wrote: post #83
gambiting wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>Would be cool if one day you could get your connectivity needs handled by a single company cheaply, almost anywhere in the world That sounds like an absolute distopian nightmare and the last person on earth that I want to be running this service is Elon Musk. In general I find it horrendous how a single american company can pollute the night sky for every human being in the world, whether they can use their service…

Have you seen them in orbit? I look at the sky regularly in a low light area and I've not seen any "pollution", but maybe I don't know how to look?

Yes. They are only visible after launch, like a string of slow shooting stars or pac man food that lasts 3-4 minutes.

After they reach their target orbit they go into dark mode and you will never see them unless you operate like a top 10 in the world telescope.

Re: Real-time map of every Starlink satellite in orbit

#122

Post by sandworm101 »

ponector wrote: post #101
sandworm101 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Im already seeing an impact. Rural wifi networks are being replaced by starlink, at least for those able to afford it. Starlink is certainly faster to setup and maintain, but remains far more expensive day to day than a rural wifi net. I have family on a rural network with solar-powered relays setup on islands. New retirees to the area are just buying starlink without even asking about the local net. So it is no long…

But is local option really cheap? From my experience it is quite the opposite: they know you have nowhere else to go so you will buy their connection anyway.

That depends on the service. Many rural wifi nets serve less than a few hundred customers and rely on the good will of landowners to allow stations on their land.

Much depends on geography. In the flat areas of the midwest there are tall towers serving expansive areas. Those are the ones with licenses and local monopolies. But in rough or mountainous terrain the net requires lots of little relay stations and is done using non-licensed 2.4ghz spectrum. Those small companies remain friendly because they know anyone can jump in and compete. The one my family is on relies on a chain of relays on islands to connect a couple villages to a local cell tower location where there is fiber. Everyone knows the cell service is bad and there is no wired internet. So when the relay stations need fixing, boats and skilled labor show up to help get the town back online.

Re: Real-time map of every Starlink satellite in orbit

#123

Post by JumpCrisscross »

hnbad wrote: post #116
Etherlord87 wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From Wikipedia[1]: One implication is that the distribution of debris in orbit could render space activities and the use of satellites in specific orbital ranges difficult for many generations. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome

From the same article: > However, even a catastrophic Kessler scenario at LEO would pose minimal risk for launches continuing past LEO, or satellites travelling at medium Earth orbit (MEO) or geosynchronous orbit (GEO). The catastrophic scenarios predict an increase in the number of collisions per year, as opposed to a physically impassable barrier to space exploration that occurs in higher orbits. There's also a sta…

> sound like the Kessler syndrome risk is higher for heavier, higher orbit satellites

A Kessler scenario, not syndrome. Localised to a set of orbits within which you see a rise of collisions. The number of affected orbits doesn’t increase for more than a few months, at which point the problem is constrained within space.

Re: Real-time map of every Starlink satellite in orbit

#124

Post by kossTKR »

walrus01 wrote: post #43
drukenemo wrote: post #25

Strangely, a search for how many satellites are in orbit right now, returns those numbers: - 9,494 active satellites USA 2926 China 493 United Kingdom 450 So the 5k plus from Starlink are in this count yet?

United Kingdom 450 is a count not because the UK actually launches so many satellites of its own, but rather because legacy commercial telecom operators (geostationary like INMARSAT and others) are often UK incorporated. Dig deep enough into commercial satellite telecom and you'll find stuff with offices in the City of London.

Why did many telecom companies put their offices in the City of London?

Taxes, US regulation, military shenanigans?

Re: Real-time map of every Starlink satellite in orbit

#125

Post by JumpCrisscross »

Etherlord87 wrote: post #106
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> once all goes to hell and you have a chain reaction of destroyed satellites destroying other satellites - each next satellite moves the scenario towards a positive feedback loop There is no orbital solution in which this happens to any meaningful extent. Even worst-case scenarios of massive anti-satellite activity create localised messes that clear in a few months.

From Wikipedia[1]: One implication is that the distribution of debris in orbit could render space activities and the use of satellites in specific orbital ranges difficult for many generations. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome

> the distribution of debris in orbit could render space activities and the use of satellites in specific orbital ranges difficult for many generations

Sure, if you overload a high orbit you could render it unusable for a long time. In its worst case, it’s still highly localised. Congestion in LEO has tradeoffs, but Kessler syndrome (much less a scenario) isn’t one of them.

Re: Real-time map of every Starlink satellite in orbit

#126

Post by morkalork »

oceanplexian wrote: post #117
ryukoposting wrote: post #99

Maps like these are really useful for folks developing satcom firmware. I use https://iridiumwhere.com at least a couple times a week to help me test code. This one is particularly interesting for the sheer density of it - that's a TON of satellites. On a related note, anyone who hasn't done so should get to their country's lowest light-pollution area and do some star gazing (for Americans, I suggest Badlands Nationa…

I live in a dark skies area in the Southwest USA. I frequently see the trains as they are inserted into orbit, but your chance of seeing an individual Starlink satellite is zero. It's like trying to see a single object the size of a picnic table, in the dark, 400km away, going 27,000km/hr.

Last summer, maybe two ago, I was camping in the middle of nowhere, laying on a sandy beach after sunset and saw a starlink satellite train go up. It was a truly ethereal experience.

Re: Real-time map of every Starlink satellite in orbit

#127

Post by danpalmer »

kjhughes wrote: post #107
danpalmer wrote: post #104

> not optimized for mobile use... is best enjoyed on a desktop > Please rotate your device to landscape for the optimal satellite viewing experience. Ummm...

They seem to be merely detecting the aspect ratio of the browser window, and their message is equating portrait to mobile, even on the desktop. When I made my desktop browser window wider than tall, it got past that imperfect check they're using.

Yes they are, I just found it an amusing juxtaposition. Also perhaps a little unforgiving, given that I had a roughly square viewport which was definitely not a problem.

Re: Real-time map of every Starlink satellite in orbit

#128

Post by koenigdavidmj »

sandworm101 wrote: post #72
hnbad wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're not mutually exclusive as far as cost goes - quite the opposite (hence all the talk about "synergy" and "vertical integration" in enterprise spaces) - but you're right about consumer prices. I think what's keeping the consumer prices for Starlink down is that for the vast majority of its coverage it does have competition. Much like how it's in Tesla's best interests for the US not to invest in high-speed rail…

Im already seeing an impact. Rural wifi networks are being replaced by starlink, at least for those able to afford it. Starlink is certainly faster to setup and maintain, but remains far more expensive day to day than a rural wifi net. I have family on a rural network with solar-powered relays setup on islands. New retirees to the area are just buying starlink without even asking about the local net. So it is no long…

The San Juans?

Re: Real-time map of every Starlink satellite in orbit

#129

Post by NikolaNovak »

LorenDB wrote: post #88
Klaster_1 wrote: post #9

Wow, I knew Starlink had an enormous constellation, but visualizing it like that really empathizes the scope. Would be cool if one day you could get your connectivity needs handled by a single company cheaply, almost anywhere in the world, without bothering about new contracts, moving cities or country borders.

Elon has already stated that Starlink is not a replacement for a quality wired/fiber connection. His goal with Starlink is to cover areas that aren't covered by ISPs for whatever reason.

[flagged]

Re: Real-time map of every Starlink satellite in orbit

#130

Post by abound »

morkalork wrote: post #126
oceanplexian wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in a dark skies area in the Southwest USA. I frequently see the trains as they are inserted into orbit, but your chance of seeing an individual Starlink satellite is zero. It's like trying to see a single object the size of a picnic table, in the dark, 400km away, going 27,000km/hr.

Last summer, maybe two ago, I was camping in the middle of nowhere, laying on a sandy beach after sunset and saw a starlink satellite train go up. It was a truly ethereal experience.

Continuing this "I saw a Starlink train" train, I was in Yosemite doing a stargazing tour (i.e. with a guide using a powerful handheld laser to point out individual stars), and we saw the clean line of "stars" making its way across the sky.

A quick search confirmed for us that it was from a recent Starlink launch, and not aliens.

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