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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

#51

Post by hnbad »

squarefoot wrote: post #42
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.

A single company and cheaply are usually mutually exclusive as competition is what keeps prices down.

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 (hence Musk's "Hyperloop" stunt to prevent an infrastructure investment), it's in Starlink's best interests for countries not to invest in broadband technologies (whether it's mobile networks or fiber). I'm not aware of any plans to dissuade governments from those investments yet but I wouldn't be surprised to see it. Presumably Musk is too busy with Twitter at the moment.

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

#52

Post by hnbad »

dzhiurgis wrote: post #44
londons_explore wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect the country borders problem will never get resolved. Even now, starlink is only available in US-allied countries.

But you CAN reduce amount of borders ;)

Ask Russia how that's been going ;)

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

#53

Post by hnbad »

boxed wrote: post #33
londons_explore wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are 7.8 billion people on earth. 7.5 billion of them had no say at all, and 0.33 billion of them had a tiny say via elected representatives who wrote the laws before starlink was even envisioned. I'm pretty sure if a global vote was held on the question of "Would you like to have 10,000 satellites launched so you have the option of paying a US company for broadband anywhere in the world?", the vote outcome woul…

If you ask the entire world you would get stupid answers to a lot of questions. "How old is the universe?" for example would get it hilariously wrong.

[flagged]

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

#54

Post by hnbad »

cm2187 wrote: post #47
boxed wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you ask the entire world you would get stupid answers to a lot of questions. "How old is the universe?" for example would get it hilariously wrong.

Particularly given that the satellites are absolutely minuscule compared to the distances between them. People are bad at conceptualising tiny fractions.

Not miniscule enough to not interfere with astronomy due to the exposure times and light sensitivity involved.

But yes, they're not big enough to cause a "space junk preventing space travel" kind of scenario.

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

#55

Post by lupusreal »

londons_explore wrote: post #28
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.

I suspect the country borders problem will never get resolved. Even now, starlink is only available in US-allied countries.

Apparently it's active in Iran (because the US government wants it to be.)

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

#56

Post by hnbad »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #2

[flagged]

It's easy to forget given the direction Elon has been heading ever since the "pedo guy" comment but there are a lot of techno-optimists who are obsessively in love with all things SpaceX (and - tho now to a lesser extent - Tesla).

This turf isn't astro but it's also not really turf to begin with - just a very enthusiastic singular blade of grass.

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

#57

Post by lupusreal »

hnbad wrote: post #53
boxed wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you ask the entire world you would get stupid answers to a lot of questions. "How old is the universe?" for example would get it hilariously wrong.

[flagged]

A bad faith reading of the comment would be against the commenting guidelines. Besides, is there any democracy on Earth which doesn't disenfranchise the vast majority of the human race who aren't citizens of that democracy? The whole world never gets to vote on things like this, or anything of real consequence.

It seems to me that this whole line of critique amounts to a big pout that SpaceX hasn't deferred to a nonexistent global democratic government.

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