4 ms·

Man, I love when sci-fi becomes reality. It's the cool things that get me excited for some parts of the future, and this is exactly that.

warinukraine 4y ago
- rambambram 4y ago
  Before I bookmark your comment, any chance for an explanation? I'm very curious.
- inawarminister 4y ago
  Huh? It's in the specs for Starlink satellite version two since the beginning. You even have research papers detailing the mechanism https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350575864_Laser_Intersatellite_Links_in_a_Starlink_Constellation_A_Classification_and_Analysis https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350575864_Laser_Int... News from last year https://www.satellitetoday.com/broadband/2021/01/25/latest-starlink-satellites-equipped-with-laser-communications-musk-confirms/ https://www.satellitetoday.com/broadband/2021/01/25/latest-s...
- MichaelCollins 4y ago
  Let me guess, "Elon is a liar therefore everything SpaceX does or says is a lie" I bet the satellites and rockets are fake too, right warinukraine? He says they exist, therefore they must not.
- rpmisms 4y ago
  What, exactly, is unrealistic about lasers?
  - MichaelCollins 4y ago
    The trick is aiming the lasers accurately enough, but that's merely a challenging engineering problem. With their experience and track record, there's no reason to think SpaceX can't/haven't managed it. With Elon Musk companies you need to be wary of claimed intentions and future plans, because exaggerations and lies abound in those domains. Don't hold your breath for FSD or Mars colonies. But when SpaceX claims they've already accomplished something, they're almost certainly telling the truth about it.
Bubble_Pop_22 4y ago
- capableweb 4y ago
  > with very little to show for Global internet coverage would be amazing, and definitely something I and many others would consider worth it. Not just for people to browse Twitter/TikTok/social media, but for access to things like Wikipedia and various other knowledge-bases, and communication protocols.
  - Bubble_Pop_22 4y ago
    The world's poor are ahead of us in this realm. Lagos will clock 100M people by the end of the century. Megalopolis are only getting bigger. Like luxury EVs , starlink is aimed at the particular preferences of the RV crowd and the yacht crowd. Improving the quality of life of the avg. consumer is never the goal. The goal is to have rich people get excited about some luxury product so that they immediately log on their Fidelity account and buy the stock of the company which puts itself out there as the so called leader in that luxury product niche. It turns out that too much optimism about the future can damage an economy just as much as not enough faith in the future. This is exactly what has happened with the "everything bubble".
    - chucksmash 4y ago
      Your cynicism is uncalled for IMO but also misses the mark factually. SpaceX is not a publicly traded company so the specific way you've chosen to express your cynicism (this is just for pumping stock prices!) isn't even applicable. Starlink might eventually be spun off into a separate publicly traded company - some statements to this effect have been made - but that's not what's happening right now.
      - Bubble_Pop_22 4y ago
        > SpaceX is not a publicly traded company I don't think it matters. TikTok isn't traded either but equity price is pumped up anyways. Likewise Brad Pitt is not publicly traded but the excitement that people have for him prompts Tag Heur to pay him millions for a picture wearing one of their watches. Finally everybody and their brother knows that Tesla and all the other BS vaporware companies under the same ownership are gonna merge at some point and be listed.

warinukraine 4y ago

rambambram 4y ago
Before I bookmark your comment, any chance for an explanation? I'm very curious.
inawarminister 4y ago
Huh? It's in the specs for Starlink satellite version two since the beginning. You even have research papers detailing the mechanism https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350575864_Laser_Intersatellite_Links_in_a_Starlink_Constellation_A_Classification_and_Analysis https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350575864_Laser_Int... News from last year https://www.satellitetoday.com/broadband/2021/01/25/latest-starlink-satellites-equipped-with-laser-communications-musk-confirms/ https://www.satellitetoday.com/broadband/2021/01/25/latest-s...
MichaelCollins 4y ago
Let me guess, "Elon is a liar therefore everything SpaceX does or says is a lie" I bet the satellites and rockets are fake too, right warinukraine? He says they exist, therefore they must not.
rpmisms 4y ago
What, exactly, is unrealistic about lasers?
- MichaelCollins 4y ago
  The trick is aiming the lasers accurately enough, but that's merely a challenging engineering problem. With their experience and track record, there's no reason to think SpaceX can't/haven't managed it. With Elon Musk companies you need to be wary of claimed intentions and future plans, because exaggerations and lies abound in those domains. Don't hold your breath for FSD or Mars colonies. But when SpaceX claims they've already accomplished something, they're almost certainly telling the truth about it.

Bubble_Pop_22 4y ago

capableweb 4y ago
> with very little to show for Global internet coverage would be amazing, and definitely something I and many others would consider worth it. Not just for people to browse Twitter/TikTok/social media, but for access to things like Wikipedia and various other knowledge-bases, and communication protocols.
- Bubble_Pop_22 4y ago
  The world's poor are ahead of us in this realm. Lagos will clock 100M people by the end of the century. Megalopolis are only getting bigger. Like luxury EVs , starlink is aimed at the particular preferences of the RV crowd and the yacht crowd. Improving the quality of life of the avg. consumer is never the goal. The goal is to have rich people get excited about some luxury product so that they immediately log on their Fidelity account and buy the stock of the company which puts itself out there as the so called leader in that luxury product niche. It turns out that too much optimism about the future can damage an economy just as much as not enough faith in the future. This is exactly what has happened with the "everything bubble".
  - chucksmash 4y ago
    Your cynicism is uncalled for IMO but also misses the mark factually. SpaceX is not a publicly traded company so the specific way you've chosen to express your cynicism (this is just for pumping stock prices!) isn't even applicable. Starlink might eventually be spun off into a separate publicly traded company - some statements to this effect have been made - but that's not what's happening right now.
    - Bubble_Pop_22 4y ago
      > SpaceX is not a publicly traded company I don't think it matters. TikTok isn't traded either but equity price is pumped up anyways. Likewise Brad Pitt is not publicly traded but the excitement that people have for him prompts Tag Heur to pay him millions for a picture wearing one of their watches. Finally everybody and their brother knows that Tesla and all the other BS vaporware companies under the same ownership are gonna merge at some point and be listed.