SpaceX's Starlink satellite megaconstellation launches in photos

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10 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Lovethrust
    I know it’s for a good purpose but part of me sees this and thinks how it looks like someone throwing a McDonald’s bag full of crap out their car window on the highway.
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  • jfleetwd
    And there were people who thought electricity would kill them if they installed it in their house. There is always a dark side to advancment but will the good outweigh the bad.
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  • c_glensmith
    Hi
    How so? Are you thinking of the space debris issue? Don't . From that point of view the starlink launches are good, the second stage deorbits itself right away and the sats either deorbit at end of life or sooner due to drag if non functional .
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  • Lovethrust
    c_glensmith said:
    Hi
    How so? Are you thinking of the space debris issue? Don't . From that point of view the starlink launches are good, the second stage deorbits itself right away and the sats either deorbit at end of life or sooner due to drag if non functional .
    Hey! I am thinking of the light pollution for astronomers who are going to have to deal with thousands, maybe even thirty thousand sats hampering their work. It’s not a trivial problem.
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  • c_glensmith
    I agree it's a big concern for some, time will tell. Hopefully the mitigation SpaceX is undertaking will be effective.
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  • foxpup
    Lovethrust said:
    Hey! I am thinking of the light pollution for astronomers who are going to have to deal with thousands, maybe even thirty thousand sats hampering their work. It’s not a trivial problem.
    It's a trivial problem compared to the connectivity needs of millions of Americans and billions in other countries who live in too rural a setting for quality high speed internet access. It could be a real life-changer for them. Maybe Space-X will launch a dozen Hubble-clones with public access to help make peace. :)
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  • Lovethrust said:
    Hey! I am thinking of the light pollution for astronomers who are going to have to deal with thousands, maybe even thirty thousand sats hampering their work. It’s not a trivial problem.
    We will be the last generation with a view of the stars unimpeded by thousands of streaming dots
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  • foxpup
    Andre said:
    We will be the last generation with a view of the stars unimpeded by thousands of streaming dots
    Respectfully...Nonsense, our descendents living offworld will have an even better view than we have if Elon gets his way. :-) I agree, though, things are going to get worse and worse visually down here at the bottom of this gravity well we live in. Still, I'll bet we can work out some sophisticated and effective masking to improve things. A super-accurate live database of where EVERYTHING in Earth orbit is would be a start. Masking could be either physical or digital if we pre-knew where to do the blocking. AI may help us too. Not a perfect solution but I bet it will get us a long way, to the point where our biggest problem will be airplanes. Also as far as I know Star-Link satellites don't glow at all if they are in the shadow of the Earth so staight up at midnight should be pretty clear of such problems. :-)
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  • c_glensmith
    Andre said:
    We will be the last generation with a view of the stars unimpeded by thousands of streaming dots

    Sadly the millions of us in built up areas already see very little of the night sky due to light pollution, we will not notice the slightest difference.
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  • Astronsights
    So much hand-wringing here! Millions of people without high speed Internet are going to be well-served by information and knowledge at their fingertips and a few are worried about some lights in the sky? Ridiculous! This will improve the lives of many in unimaginable ways and help stamp out ignorance and provide opportunity from many economically challenged communities to build better lives for their families.

    Starlink satellites have such low orbits, when observed from the surface of the planet, they are only illuminated by the sun for the first hour after dusk and the last hour before dawn. Most of the night they are in Earth's shadow and completely invisible.
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