51–57 of 57 posts
Estimates are that the spacex starship could launch 240 starlink satellites. I can't imagine how many cubes they could hold.
did you mean 420 satellites? https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-president-teases-starship-s...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thats a great link I think it's inportant to note that a traditional 3 ton sattelite and a cubesat will have totally different lifetimes, and that articles appears to assume a larger satellite
Yea, I saw that. It seems the key thing is the ratio of surface area to mass. It seems reasonable for a smaller satellite to have higher surface area to mass, and thus deorbit faster, but I don't have a handy link to that data.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Usually, a satellite that launches from a country has to abide by that country's regulations. As a requirement for getting regulatory approval to launch your satellite, I think you have to submit a debris management plan, which can include raising a geostationary satellite to a graveyard orbit after EOL (GEO is really far from earth, it would take a lot of fuel to de-orbit them), or lower a low-earth orbit to an alti…
I wonder what regulations would need to be followed if spacex did their launches from a modified oil rig in international waters?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Usually, a satellite that launches from a country has to abide by that country's regulations. As a requirement for getting regulatory approval to launch your satellite, I think you have to submit a debris management plan, which can include raising a geostationary satellite to a graveyard orbit after EOL (GEO is really far from earth, it would take a lot of fuel to de-orbit them), or lower a low-earth orbit to an alti…
I wonder what regulations would need to be followed if spacex did their launches from a modified oil rig in international waters?
And there is precedent that even if an American company launches their satellite from somewhere that is not the USA, they still have to follow all the American regulation. See FCC and Swarm Technologies over the SpaceBee 1-4 launch.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Cars seem to have a lot in common actually: satellites are "at rest" most of the time, it just that this rest could be a hazard as some point; but a car parked badly, around a sharp turn or in the middle of the highway would be a hazard as well. Cars can collide too, they can leave debris, which can become dangerous themselves for other cars, or pollute the nature around from leaks, ... The only reason I'd say cars a…
Other cars can steer around a badly stopped car. Satellites can't. A better analogy would be if once they entered their lane, cars would have to travel down it at their maximum speed, without being able to steer, or brake. Under those constraints, I, uh, wouldn't get into a car. Cars are also not phased if they run over a loose bolt. The same can't be said for satellites. > We don't do it yet with satellites. Basic o…
Maybe a bolt wont break your car, but a nail will flatten your tire.
And most of the time we don't clean much the highways: a lot of small debris end up here and there...
The problem is indeed that cleanup is expansive and not interesting when it's not such a big hazard, but after some time the sum of those small hazards become a big problem, and the sum of cleanups almost impossible.
Something that might not be obvious for people not following space flight closely: this was a launch into a polar orbit from Florida . In the past these would have launched from Vandenberg airforce base in California because there is a clear path towards the south from there. So, how is SpaceX doing that now? They are conducting a so-called „dog leg“ maneuver. This trajectory leads the rocket further out to the east…
this was their _second_ polar orbit mission from Florida first was SAOCOM 1B back in August 2020: https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/08/31/spacex-launches-first-...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What are the implications of that?
If LEO space were priced as real estate / property and assuming there are currently little restriction to zoning. SpaceX is about to own most of it. I am thinking of it like a Game of Monopoly but SpaceX currently has anywhere from 5 - 10 rounds of head start if not more. Interestingly once you start thinking about it. If TSMC were blown up by CCP. Samsung and Intel would caught up to their progress and volume within…