5 ms·

Great article! The needles formed a passive repeater, which would be a cheap alternative to a comsat. To me, the more interesting part of the article was the

Great article! The needles formed a passive repeater, which would be a cheap alternative to a comsat. To me, the more interesting part of the article was the history of exo-atomospheric nuclear testing and the consequences to the satellites that were operating in that era. It's also interesting that the scientific community's objections to further launches actually had an effect. That doesn't seem to be the case anymore -- at least not with Starlink.

dylan604 4y ago
Starlink is a private company that doesn't concern itself with the concerns of others. I don't think comparing a private corp to a gov't body should have expectations of similar results. Private corp doesn't
- bozhark 4y ago
  It should, when it comes to space. There is nothing private about space
  - dylan604 4y ago
    Mostly, but we have no idea (confirmed) what the Air Force's space plane does. We know it exists, we can track it while in orbit, but what it does do while there is not public. Also, the software and other capabilities of a lot of satellites are inferred but not 100% known. So these birds are privately doing things in a public, ahem, space.
    - robonerd 4y ago
      It's nothing new. There were numerous classifieds Shuttle missions 30+ years ago that are still classified. People have more or less figured out what these missions were, but they're still classified and and a lot of the details still aren't known. Interesting anecdote from one of them (STS-27): > The day after Atlantis landed, the 1988 Armenian earthquake killed tens of thousands in the Soviet Union. At an astronaut meeting Gibson said, "I know many of you may have been very curious about our classified payload. While I can't go into its design features, I can say Armenia was its first target!" As military astronauts laughed and civilians cringed, Gibson continued, "And we only had the weapon set on stun!" (Turns out it was actually a synthetic aperture radar recon satellite, not an earthquake machine.)
    - bozhark 4y ago
      Is that the one that was up for over a year? https://www.livescience.com/x37b-secret-space-plane-facts.html https://www.livescience.com/x37b-secret-space-plane-facts.ht...
      - ncmncm 4y ago
        Yes. They park it up there so it won't sit in a hangar decaying, obviously useless.
  - me_me_mu_mu 4y ago
    just buy your own planet bro /s
- jcims 4y ago
  The FAA and FCC are government bodies that have and exercise authority over SpaceX's design, implementation and operation of Starlink.
  - dylan604 4y ago
    And have done nothing but rubber stamped everything they have requested regarding Starlink. No robust discussion of affects on others has been given serious thought other than "we'll paint them flat black" as a PR spin is not serious.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - wumpus 4y ago
      I'm an astronomer who's been following the situation, and this comment of yours is entirely false. For example, there was only one satellite painted dark, and it didn't work well enough. The next mitigation after that worked well, but not well enough.
      - dylan604 4y ago
        Sorry, you think I was making a comment in support of Starlink? What are you saying is false? Do you think that I believe Starlink's PR spin (what is confusing about those words?) to paint satellites black would fix the problem they created? Do you think that I belive the FAA/FCC have told SpaceX that they could no longer go ahead with their plans until a solution was in place? Where's the disconnect?
      - Teknoman117 4y ago
        As much as people may hate the prospect of putting that many satellites up, the service is so darn useful. What's the alternative? Force anyone who wants to participate in the modern world to live in a city or suburb along a fiber line? Neither public nor private groups have expressed much interest in actually getting internet connectivity to everyone. My parents live in a rural area in Northern California and only about 5 miles away from a fiber drop point. However, there are only about ten houses on their street and the local ISP and the big one that actually owns the fiber wants $10k USD a pole to bring a fiber line over to them (there's about 80 poles that would need work) plus connection and maintenance fees after that point. Needless to say, they're _loving_ their Starlink connection.
- mlindner 4y ago
  These hot takes are horrible. The safety of the space environment is ABSOLUTELY Starlink's concern. If it becomes unsafe their business case is destroyed.
JKCalhoun 4y ago
Echo 1 and 2 were also passive communication satellites.' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Echo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Echo

dylan604 4y ago

Starlink is a private company that doesn't concern itself with the concerns of others. I don't think comparing a private corp to a gov't body should have expectations of similar results. Private corp doesn't

bozhark 4y ago
It should, when it comes to space. There is nothing private about space
- dylan604 4y ago
  Mostly, but we have no idea (confirmed) what the Air Force's space plane does. We know it exists, we can track it while in orbit, but what it does do while there is not public. Also, the software and other capabilities of a lot of satellites are inferred but not 100% known. So these birds are privately doing things in a public, ahem, space.
  - robonerd 4y ago
    It's nothing new. There were numerous classifieds Shuttle missions 30+ years ago that are still classified. People have more or less figured out what these missions were, but they're still classified and and a lot of the details still aren't known. Interesting anecdote from one of them (STS-27): > The day after Atlantis landed, the 1988 Armenian earthquake killed tens of thousands in the Soviet Union. At an astronaut meeting Gibson said, "I know many of you may have been very curious about our classified payload. While I can't go into its design features, I can say Armenia was its first target!" As military astronauts laughed and civilians cringed, Gibson continued, "And we only had the weapon set on stun!" (Turns out it was actually a synthetic aperture radar recon satellite, not an earthquake machine.)
  - bozhark 4y ago
    Is that the one that was up for over a year? https://www.livescience.com/x37b-secret-space-plane-facts.html https://www.livescience.com/x37b-secret-space-plane-facts.ht...
    - ncmncm 4y ago
      Yes. They park it up there so it won't sit in a hangar decaying, obviously useless.
- me_me_mu_mu 4y ago
  just buy your own planet bro /s
jcims 4y ago
The FAA and FCC are government bodies that have and exercise authority over SpaceX's design, implementation and operation of Starlink.
- dylan604 4y ago
  And have done nothing but rubber stamped everything they have requested regarding Starlink. No robust discussion of affects on others has been given serious thought other than "we'll paint them flat black" as a PR spin is not serious.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - wumpus 4y ago
    I'm an astronomer who's been following the situation, and this comment of yours is entirely false. For example, there was only one satellite painted dark, and it didn't work well enough. The next mitigation after that worked well, but not well enough.
    - dylan604 4y ago
      Sorry, you think I was making a comment in support of Starlink? What are you saying is false? Do you think that I believe Starlink's PR spin (what is confusing about those words?) to paint satellites black would fix the problem they created? Do you think that I belive the FAA/FCC have told SpaceX that they could no longer go ahead with their plans until a solution was in place? Where's the disconnect?
    - Teknoman117 4y ago
      As much as people may hate the prospect of putting that many satellites up, the service is so darn useful. What's the alternative? Force anyone who wants to participate in the modern world to live in a city or suburb along a fiber line? Neither public nor private groups have expressed much interest in actually getting internet connectivity to everyone. My parents live in a rural area in Northern California and only about 5 miles away from a fiber drop point. However, there are only about ten houses on their street and the local ISP and the big one that actually owns the fiber wants $10k USD a pole to bring a fiber line over to them (there's about 80 poles that would need work) plus connection and maintenance fees after that point. Needless to say, they're _loving_ their Starlink connection.
mlindner 4y ago
These hot takes are horrible. The safety of the space environment is ABSOLUTELY Starlink's concern. If it becomes unsafe their business case is destroyed.

JKCalhoun 4y ago

Echo 1 and 2 were also passive communication satellites.' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Echo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Echo