That’s definitely good news, if we can get anything Elon out of our lives, it’s always a plus.
Eh, I don’t particularly care much about Elon, he’ll eventually go away. But more competition is usually good.
More competition? LETS GO!
How bad is it for low earth orbit to have multiple companies fighting over the market?
One field it impacts is radio astronomy. We can already see Musk’s satellites mess with it (unintentionally) and it’s probably only going to get worse from here.
Low earth orbit is very big. It’s not bad.
Depends on a lot of factors. Due to uncontrollable factors like small untrackable debris, more satellites is always more dangerous, but that’s still an extremely small problem. If all the Starlink-style companies cooperate properly and adopt high tech solutions for collision avoidance, it’ll probably be fine - space is really, really big. Additionally, the extremely low orbits are a great mitigating factor for potential parts failures; even if a satellite outright dies, losing its telemetry and maneuvering capability, it’ll be gone pretty quick.
Honestly, more than anything, I’d be concerned about the recent science showing that satellites burning up on reentry could be very significantly more damaging to our atmosphere and the ozone layer than previously thought.
I’d be concerned about the recent science showing that satellites burning up on reentry could be very significantly more damaging to our atmosphere and the ozone layer than previously thought.
Can you link to a source explaining the phenomenon? I am curious.
Thank you
In the big picture I expect collisions and debris in LEO are less of a problem because things at that level tend to naturally deorbit without regular use of propulsion to make up for the effects of atmospheric friction (which is tiny, but still there and adding up over time).
Fuck the stars. Like they do anything for profits.
We need the UN to have crown corporations
I would support a petition for the UN to maintain control of that market. 1 it would give the UN an more active role and give it a means of funding itself 2 it would prevent multiple companies from rushing to install their cluster of sats keeping the sky as free of debris as possible
Just initial idea…
Except Starlink already has direct to cell technology, with satellites already in orbit, and limited coverage already available. I don’t know if they’re using 5g, but this tech is available to the public already.
The article states that Starlink requires special equipment to access the satellites, and that’s just not true.
Accurate.
More competition is good IMO. Ideally, we’ll end up with a cross-company agreement to share satellites so each can compete on overall service instead of infrastructure, kind of like municipal wifi.
At the moment, what is happening is that people sign up to an existing provider, who then bundles in access as part of the plan.
I wonder if it wouldn’t be cheaper and more practical to just install antennas all over…
In the ocean too?
Considering the number of launches that will be required if there isn’t just one provider with tens of thousands of satellites floating around? Yeah.
And warzones
