4 ms·

And if it's specifically about the night sky and it's integrity, are starlink and iridium satellites distopian?

• gambiting 5y ago
  Absolutely. They take a common good that we have and use it for commercial purpose, Starlink should not be allowed to exist as a product, full stop. It pollutes the view of the sky for the entire Earth, even over countries which do not have access to the service, and for people who aren't happy to have their lives intruded by yet another American corporation.
  • barbazoo 5y ago
    Do they really "fly" those satellites over areas where they don't provide service and if so, do they have to?
    • gambiting 5y ago
      Yes and yes. The stated goal of Starlink is to provide entire world coverage. https://satellitemap.space/ https://satellitemap.space/
    • PeterisP 5y ago
      Yes, the way these orbits work, in order to cover one area, they orbits cover the entire globe up at least to that latitude. A geostationary orbit can "fly" above one specific spot, but that's limited to being above equator and very, very far compared to these orbits (~35000 km vs ~1000 km) which makes it worse for communications. Here's an illustration of the coverage - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink#/media/File:Starlink_SpaceX_1584_satellites_72_Planes_22each.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink#/media/File:Starlink_...
• barbazoo 5y ago
  It's a balance I'd say. Arguably those satelites serve a purpose that ads don't.