# Elon Musk Starlink



## RJM Corbet (May 26, 2019)

Sixty new pieces of commercial space junk launched, in the name of altruistic ideology. Another 11 940 still to clutter space. I _hate_ this guy:









						SpaceX's 60-Satellite Launch Is Just the Beginning for Starlink Megaconstellation Project
					

The broadband constellation could eventually consist of nearly 12,000 satellites.




					www.space.com
				




"SpaceX's 60-Satellite Launch Is Just the Beginning for Starlink Megaconstellation Project

The broadband constellation could eventually consist of nearly 12,000 satellites ..."


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## Robert Zwilling (May 27, 2019)

They got a permit for a million of them.


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## RJM Corbet (May 27, 2019)

Robert Zwilling said:


> They got a permit for a million of them.


 I just don't like him


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## Dave (May 27, 2019)

There are a number of different issues here. I think his ideas about future technology are something we need more of. I think there is already too much space-junk and we should be litter-picking space, not putting classic cars into orbit. Some of the junk in orbit has the potential to kill people on the ground on re-entry, so it's no joke. As for his personality, I think his Twitter conversation with Vernon Unsworth, the cave diver who located the 12 children in the Thailand cave, says everything I need to know.


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## RJM Corbet (May 27, 2019)

He is no doubt a complicated and driven character. But to me his mission to saturate space with satellites with the purpose of saturating the Earth with Internet connection, from the depth of the Amazon to the middle of the Sahara, is unnecessary and really only of benefit to the tech industry itself?

But I suppose it's what the future looks like; we're starting to understand what the commercialism of space is actually going to look like.

I rather want to see people planting trees, finding ways to deal with plastic waste and working to rescue the Amazon jungle from destruction and finding ways to make the Sahara desert fertile, than people whose priority is to make the remotest places internet capable?


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## Robert Zwilling (May 27, 2019)

Is it possible the driverless cars need the blanket internet coverage? Is it a way to avoid paying networks to give priority to internet access to driverless cars?


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## RJM Corbet (May 27, 2019)

Robert Zwilling said:


> Is it possible the driverless cars need the blanket internet coverage? Is it a way to avoid paying networks to give priority to internet access to driverless cars?


I don't know. I believe the internet itself doesn't depend on satellites. It sends zero traffic via satellites, but it  requires them for GPS and stuff Iike that? 

EDIT: Of course driverless cars will definitely need GPS.


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## Pyan (May 27, 2019)

I wonder if they'll stay like this - or if the next batch will join on behind?






Hmm - I bet he wanted to call it Skynet - which, let's face it, would be a really apt name...


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## RJM Corbet (May 27, 2019)

pyan said:


> I wonder if they'll stay like this - or if the next batch will join on behind?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Wow!


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## Harpo (May 27, 2019)

If he effs up my Aurora sightings I am going to get medieval on his assets.


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## Robert Zwilling (May 29, 2019)

Star Link Satellites might clutter up astronomers pictures

Apparently they will be easy to see.

If it is the satellite bodies one solution could be to paint them black, but then they might overheat. If it is the solar panels that would be harder to resolve.


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## RJM Corbet (May 30, 2019)

Robert Zwilling said:


> Star Link Satellites might clutter up astronomers pictures
> 
> Apparently they will be easy to see.
> 
> If it is the satellite bodies one solution could be to paint them black, but then they might overheat. If it is the solar panels that would be harder to resolve.






Showing it again. I'm sure this short video will become iconic ...


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## -K2- (May 31, 2019)

_I posted what follows in the similar thread in the 'Technology' section... it very much applies to the discussion, and is fascinating to boot!  AND... they've already added the Starlink items which are shown moving in real-time.  They're VERY obvious._


As I'm researching satellites for a project of mine, after reading about these bulk satellite arrays I was pointed to a link that you might find interesting considering what is being proposed.  Play around with it a bit.  Zoom into low level satellites to actually see their speed, and be sure to click on associated links in that they'll show you how one launch often leaves a LOT up there.



			stuffin.space
		


For instance, once there do a search for Fengyun.  Then zoom in and note its speed in real time... notice some objects are climbing!  Then for a real stunner, click on 'find all objects from this launch.'  Another good one is the 'Iridium' launch.

Have fun!

K2


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## RJM Corbet (May 31, 2019)

-K2- said:


> Stuff in Space


Real time. That is crazy!






Furthest out: Geotail?


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## -K2- (May 31, 2019)

RJM Corbet said:


> Furthest out: Geotail?



I think... as far as what swings out farthest, you need to consider 'apogee:'






TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) is currently way out there.

Blue is Earth, Green is the Moon's orbit, lavender is TESS:





Kelper-K2, which I believe is much further, I'm don't think they consider it an 'Earth' orbit as it follows earth gradually lagging behind.






K2


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## Robert Zwilling (Jun 7, 2019)

Here's a not so flattering picture of 25 star links gumming up the picture. While they were close together, there are only 65 of the proposed 12,000 plus that will be out there. No telling if all the competing networks will fly in the same locations or be scattered all over the place.

And now for something entirely different. Surveillance platforms floating at 50,000 to 75,000 feet. Supposedly everyone will have a use for their data, from recording license plate numbers to how many trees you have growing in your neighborhood, plus the weather, farm production, anything one can imagine or wants to pay for. Hedge funds can use them as well. Wide scale surveillance used to be limited by the  cost of technology. Formerly this data came from expensive satellites. With cheap balloons the insulation of privacy is sure to float out the window.


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## Dave (Jun 7, 2019)

We need to stop using single use plastic and Helium, so I'm not a fan of the balloons. We need to keep the limited Helium for medical uses and plastic from balloons litters the countryside, the oceans and kills wildlife who try to eat it. That is before you even consider any privacy issues.


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## Robert Zwilling (Jun 7, 2019)

The helium issue is quite a story. The Party City company had to close some stores because of a lack of helium at the stores, their business fell off. It was the balloons that brought people into the store, without that, they spent their money somewhere else. They appear to be using a lot of helium. The company claims to have contracted with a new source of helium (newly found?) to keep their supply of helium flowing for filling balloons. For a while it looked like the helium balloon business was going to collapse but so far it hasn't.


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## RJM Corbet (Jun 7, 2019)

Robert Zwilling said:


> Here's a not so flattering picture of 25 star links gumming up the picture. While they were close together, there are only 65 of the proposed 12,000 plus that will be out there. No telling if all the competing networks will fly in the same locations or be scattered all over the place.
> 
> And now for something entirely different. Surveillance platforms floating at 50,000 to 75,000 feet. Supposedly everyone will have a use for their data, from recording license plate numbers to how many trees you have growing in your neighborhood, plus the weather, farm production, anything one can imagine or wants to pay for. Hedge funds can use them as well. Wide scale surveillance used to be limited by the  cost of technology. Formerly this data came from expensive satellites. With cheap balloons the insulation of privacy is sure to float out the window.


Crazy stuff!

What I dislike about Elon Musk is how he presents himself as the green hope of the planet Earth, but he's really just another dirty commercialist billionaire out for the buck, imo.

Does anyone think he really gives a damn about clean energy, etc? He really just sees a gap to make money. IMO

EDIT: It's just the start of the true commercialization  of space, and it's only going to get worse up there?


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## -K2- (Jun 7, 2019)

RJM Corbet said:


> EDIT: It's just the start of the true commercialization  of space, and it's only going to get worse up there?



Well, think about this... Private entities competing in the vast arena of 'everything but Earth,' trying to be *the one* to reap the profits.  Like it or not, 'no one' owns space.  No individual, corporation, or government... So, it could end up the wild-West and as much as everyone might like to gripe, in reality, no one government or law enforcement entity has the *right* to enact and enforce laws once out of Earth's atmosphere.

Just something to ponder on.  Though they try and regulate things in orbit, eventually, I'm betting someone will challenge that, more so any court's jurisdiction.  So, I'll wager it's going to get a lot wilder before it stabilizes.

K2


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## BAYLOR (Jun 23, 2019)

Dave said:


> We need to stop using single use plastic and Helium, so I'm not a fan of the balloons. We need to keep the limited Helium for medical uses and plastic from balloons litters the countryside, the oceans and kills wildlife who try to eat it. That is before you even consider any privacy issues.



We can't artificially produce helium can we?


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## Dave (Jun 23, 2019)

It is an element, if that is what you meant. It is present at 5ppm by volume in the Earth's atmosphere, but being inert and second lightest of all the elements means it escapes, and is then lost forever. It is also produced by the radioactive decay of Thorium and Uranium deep underground. That can then collect in natural gas reserves, or is released by volcanic activity. Those are the reserves we are using up. They will have taken hundreds of thousands of years to collect.


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## BAYLOR (Jun 23, 2019)

Dave said:


> It is an element, if that is what you meant. It is present at 5ppm by volume in the Earth's atmosphere, but being inert and second lightest of all the elements means it escapes, and is then lost forever. It is also produced by the radioactive decay of Thorium and Uranium deep underground. That can then collect in natural gas reserves, or is released by volcanic activity. Those are the reserves we are using up. They will have taken hundreds of thousands of years to collect.



We can't replicate that.

 If we exhaust the Helium , that could be world of trouble for our civilization.


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## Robert Zwilling (Jun 23, 2019)

There is probably a lot of things of unlimited quantity below the surface we could be mining if we could get there. There must be a lot of helium that hasn't bubbled up to the surface yet. All together we are probably spending trillions to travel many millions of miles into space with just a a handful of vehicles. Everyone except India which already had launched 104 satellites from a single rocket for a tenth of the typical cost before Starlink came along. I wonder how much it would cost to mine resources that are 10 miles or more underground. Could it be that much harder to tunnel underground than to travel into the dangerous cold vacuum of space. Many years ago tunneling used to be a big feature in movies but pretty much dropped off the radar and out of sight.


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