4 ms·

only musk can save datacenters from reaches of earths governments. by transporting every cargo to USA for thorough inspection before flight.

catlikesshrimp 1y ago
Isn't the cost of taking down a satellite lower than putting it up? The problem would be all the debris up there. Maybe destroying one satellite would destroy them all.
- Calwestjobs 1y ago
  Is not changing BGP route cheaper than taking down a satanlite ? Sorry, satellite.
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago
  > Isn't the cost of taking down a satellite lower than putting it up? Probably not for Starlink. You’ve got mass-manufactured satellites in a constellation launched on a reüsable, profitable platform on one hand. And on the other hand you have experimental expendable ASAT weapons.
  - overfeed 1y ago
    How much does it cost to launch ball bearings into an intersecting orbit? They are even cheaper to mass-manufacture. The anti-satellite side has a budget hundreds to thousands of times cheaper, based on average ball bearings to satellite density in orbit, with a decent spread and multiple orbit intersections per day.
    - JumpCrisscross 1y ago
      > How much does it cost to launch ball bearings into an intersecting orbit? They are even cheaper to mass-manufacture Approximately as much as a finished satellite or block or gold of similar mass. The bulk of the cost is in launch and aiming.
    - ben_w 1y ago
      Imagine you're standing on a simplified earth that's a perfect sphere, with no air resistance, and have a gun that has a muzzle velocity of orbital speed. There are 40,000 SUVs randomly located on the planet. You fire randomly in the horizontal plane. What's the probability of you hitting an SUV, and not yourself in the back 84 minutes later? The earth is big. The probability isn't zero, but for any given orbits period it is low. And both the ball bearings and the satelites will re-enter after a while.
      - overfeed 1y ago
        > You fire randomly in the horizontal plane Why randomly, if you're aiming for objects in an known orbit?
        ben_w 1y ago
        Because you wrote: > with a decent spread and multiple orbit intersections per day. If you miss one — and you probably will without active guidance, imagine aiming said gun at an SUV seven time zones away — everything's in a different place by your next close approach. Your ball bearings and the target both, thanks to chaotic pertubations, boosts, drag, etc.

catlikesshrimp 1y ago

Isn't the cost of taking down a satellite lower than putting it up? The problem would be all the debris up there. Maybe destroying one satellite would destroy them all.

Calwestjobs 1y ago
Is not changing BGP route cheaper than taking down a satanlite ? Sorry, satellite.
JumpCrisscross 1y ago
> Isn't the cost of taking down a satellite lower than putting it up? Probably not for Starlink. You’ve got mass-manufactured satellites in a constellation launched on a reüsable, profitable platform on one hand. And on the other hand you have experimental expendable ASAT weapons.
- overfeed 1y ago
  How much does it cost to launch ball bearings into an intersecting orbit? They are even cheaper to mass-manufacture. The anti-satellite side has a budget hundreds to thousands of times cheaper, based on average ball bearings to satellite density in orbit, with a decent spread and multiple orbit intersections per day.
  - JumpCrisscross 1y ago
    > How much does it cost to launch ball bearings into an intersecting orbit? They are even cheaper to mass-manufacture Approximately as much as a finished satellite or block or gold of similar mass. The bulk of the cost is in launch and aiming.
  - ben_w 1y ago
    Imagine you're standing on a simplified earth that's a perfect sphere, with no air resistance, and have a gun that has a muzzle velocity of orbital speed. There are 40,000 SUVs randomly located on the planet. You fire randomly in the horizontal plane. What's the probability of you hitting an SUV, and not yourself in the back 84 minutes later? The earth is big. The probability isn't zero, but for any given orbits period it is low. And both the ball bearings and the satelites will re-enter after a while.
    - overfeed 1y ago
      > You fire randomly in the horizontal plane Why randomly, if you're aiming for objects in an known orbit?
      - ben_w 1y ago
        Because you wrote: > with a decent spread and multiple orbit intersections per day. If you miss one — and you probably will without active guidance, imagine aiming said gun at an SUV seven time zones away — everything's in a different place by your next close approach. Your ball bearings and the target both, thanks to chaotic pertubations, boosts, drag, etc.