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Most important point everyone forgets to mention: this is NOT about having the tech or not. We have artificial satellites for a very long time. This is about s
by alsdkfjkqjwer 6y ago
Most important point everyone forgets to mention: this is NOT about having the tech or not. We have artificial satellites for a very long time.
This is about spending a few dollars more to have them properly painted.
Think about this, Musk and Bezos are saving a few cents. In exchange of astronomy.
- ceejayoz 6y agoI don't think that's fair. Other satellites are reflective, too. It's difficult to make a satellite completely dark, in part because dark = absorbs heat and it's hard to dump heat in space. The problem with these internet constellations is that, to work, they have to have thousands of them in each constellation. SpaceX has permission for 12k and is seeking permission for 30k more (https://spacenews.com/spacex-submits-paperwork-for-30000-more-starlink-satellites/ https://spacenews.com/spacex-submits-paperwork-for-30000-mor...).
- roughly 6y agoIt's definitely fair. Per the article, there's currently ~2600 satellites in orbit; Amazon is looking to more than double that, and SpaceX is asking to add ~16x that number. I think we're well within our rights as society and as humans generally to put the onus on them not to fuck up astronomy for the next century. And since when has "It's difficult" been a free pass? Both of those companies beat their chests about how neat their tech is, but when it comes to a genuinely hard problem - as in, how to launch this fleet without fucking up humankind's ability to gaze into the cosmos as we have for our entire history - you're going to let them duck it? And, to head off the obvious objection: I really, genuinely, truly don't care how difficult it is, why the physics make it difficult, what a vacuum does for heat, etc. I know. It's a hard problem. Maybe you don't get to launch fifty thousand satellites into orbit without solving it.
- scroogeydop 6y agoTime to start building tools to jam the spectrum. Make these things useless.
- jsilence 6y agoSo that we'll have the negative impact of the satelites, but no benefit? How is that supposed to solve anything?
- maa5444 6y agoit's not that difficult to understand
- silon42 6y agoEventually they will deorbit.
- scroogeydop 6y agoThe goal is to hurt the business model. Make people think the service is unreliable and they won’t use it.
- Google234 6y agoThis is very illegal.
- alsdkfjkqjwer 6y agothey will use k-a for admin traffic and k-u for user data, same as one of the 5G types, which I believe is non-regulated. So, i guess it is as legal as the interference themselves will cause on your 5g phone reception.
- scroogeydop 6y agoWho cares.