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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

#91

Post by vik0 »

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?

I can spot the satellites (sometimes) if I look up at night, but it's not like I see anything more than a bunch of dim lights beaming across the sky. So I don't think that counts as light pollution

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

#92

Post by Etherlord87 »

chrisco255 wrote: post #16
denysvitali wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not an expert in this field, but I have the feeling that 3k satellites in orbit is a small percentage of what we have at the moment. What still amazes me is that the orbit seems to not be owned by any country. Reading from another comment it looks like the FCC regulated this - but I'm still confused since it covers multiple countries, and I'm pretty sure not everyone had a saying in whether they agreed on this. A…

No country owns space. There is no formal agreement on where airspace for a country ends but informally it is up to the extent of Earth's atmosphere.

> informally it is up to the extent of Earth's atmosphere.

And where does the atmosphere end? :) From Wikipedia[1]:

Exosphere: 700 to 10,000 km (440 to 6,200 miles)

The exosphere is the outermost layer of Earth's atmosphere (though it is so tenuous that some scientists consider it to be part of interplanetary space rather than part of the atmosphere).

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Earth

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

#93

Post by vik0 »

k4rli wrote: post #61
lom wrote: post #58

> The Starlink constellation could serve up to 188,160 MB/sec to Earth. Does that feel very slow to anyone else?

So 100Mbps for ~16k people. Barely useful. I can only ever see it being useful for real rural people, who don't get any 4G signal, but these people might also not want to pay the crazy subscription fees or $500+ for the equipment. I don't see any reason why anyone living in or <100km near a city would ever want this. 5G mobile can already provide 500Mbps and fiber is just unbeatable. At least the night sky was ruined…

>I don't see any reason why anyone living in or Because not every country has widespread consumer-grade 5G and fiber-optic infrastructure set up? I swear some of you here live in a bubble and don't consider that there's an entire world much bigger than just your .

I live in that kind of a country in the Balkan, and the overwhelming majority of people here get way less than 100mbs download speed in their homes, no matter how much they're willing to pay for better internet, because at the end of the day, there is no infrastructure, and the monopoly (*technically* a duopoly) of isps don't see any reason whatsoever to broaden their infrastructure

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

#94

Post by bryanlarsen »

domh wrote: post #73

This is wild. I had no idea of the scope of Starlink satellites in orbit. What is the life cycle of one of these satellites? How long do they last in orbit? Can they be controlled where they crash land down? How many different versions of the satellites are in orbit? I wonder how often they have their software updated and what happens in the failure state of an unsuccessful update?

They have a lifespan of about 5 years, the limit is the amount of maneuvering propellant to compensate for atmospheric drag they have on board. Next gen, which will be launched by the much larger Starship, may have a lot more propellant.

Most are in a five year orbit. This means that if SpaceX loses control of the satellite it will deorbit in five years due to atmospheric drag. Under control they deorbit within hours. They plan on switching to a one year orbit in the future.

They have purposefully deorbitted hundreds of satellites. They had a couple of early satellites deorbit naturally without control, but all starlinks currently orbiting are under control.

Starlinks are designed to burn up in atmosphere. On deorbit they do not reach the Earth.

I imagine Starlinks are like other Musk products and get updates multiple times per month, but that's a guess.

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

#95

Post by LeonM »

vik0 wrote: post #91
averageRoyalty wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I can spot the satellites (sometimes) if I look up at night, but it's not like I see anything more than a bunch of dim lights beaming across the sky. So I don't think that counts as light pollution

There are plenty of satellites visible to the naked eye, not just Starlink ones.

I remember as a kid (far before Starlink existed) that we'd always go stargazing when we were camping (far from any city light pollution). And the longer you'd watch, the more you would see 'stars move'.

The ISS is also very clearly visible. It's pretty wild to see it re-appear every 90 minutes or so. Insane to think how fast that thing is moving.

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

#96

Post by JumpCrisscross »

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]

> bad faith reading of this comment would suggest you're opposed to the concept of democracy

Elections everywhere for everything isn’t democracy, it’s tyranny of the majority. Western thinkers have been writing about this since the Athenians.

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

#97

Post by JumpCrisscross »

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…

> dont support the local/cheap option it because they have been sold starlink

Has your family tried talking to any of them about it?

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

#98

Post by JumpCrisscross »

Etherlord87 wrote: post #90
hnbad wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I think the 2nd statement of yours is a false dilemma: Starlink is increasing risks in space travel - a space rocket now needs (even more - otherwise it would be a false dilemma as well) maneuverability to stick to the planned path or avoid a satellite if the path changed, I don't think it's easy considering how rockets are propelled by continuous explosions, where an engine becoming disabled is somewhat normal… And…

> 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.

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

#99

Post by ryukoposting »

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 National Park). With constellations like Starlink, we won't have those kinds of night skies for much longer.

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