Fifty thousand telecom satellites will make astronomy impossible!

[JamesF]

1 minute ago, gajjer said:

LEO. So presumably messages bounce off the nearest passing satellite and a several satellites may be involved with any one message. Hmm. Interesting.  My question would then be, how do you deploy that many satellites. Do they pop them out the back of a single rocket? Sounds like an awful lot of rockets and pollution.

I believe all sixty that were launched on Monday were on a single rocket.

James

[DaveS]

AstroArt has a line removal tool and if you take enough short subs (Though subs have to be long enough to overcome read noise) and use sigma stacking that *might* get rid of them but it's still a hell of a lot to remove.

[upahill]

8 minutes ago, JamesF said:

I believe all sixty that were launched on Monday were on a single rocket.

James

Yep single rocket, 4th time reused.

They didn't catch the fairings though due to bad seas which was a shame as that would have been even more impressive.

[Jkulin]

There will come a time when people will pay to destroy these satellites, governments will want to stop the eavesdropping political parties will want the same, there is only so much eavesdropping that the world of politicians will stand.

[gajjer]

Just now, JamesF said:

I believe all sixty that were launched on Monday were on a single rocket.

James

Cor blimey. Must be like shelling peas.

gaj

 

[JamesF]

3 minutes ago, gajjer said:

Cor blimey. Must be like shelling peas.

Indeed.  Makes me think of the Doctor Who episodes where they cut to a warehouse and light up row after row of cybermen

James

[gajjer]

Makes think of B52s.

A better image perhaps would be the queen bee popping them out!

Gaj

[Rusted]

And then they started reproducing... to the point where the Earth grew dark and increasingly frosty!

[don4l]

I wonder if this isn't a case of the Internet getting all worked up about nothing?

These satellites are going to be in fixed positions on a narrow line across the sky. 

Has anyone ever even photographed a geostationary satellite?

 

[Alan White]

Perhaps this is just another sign of the world we live in.
Technology, money and greed before all else.

Perhaps we should go back to the Horse and Cart and stop consuming.
 

[DaveS]

14 minutes ago, don4l said:

I wonder if this isn't a case of the Internet getting all worked up about nothing?

These satellites are going to be in fixed positions on a narrow line across the sky. 

Has anyone ever even photographed a geostationary satellite?

 

No, they're NOT geostationary, they are in LEO, which means even more streaks across your subs.

[JamesF]

10 minutes ago, don4l said:

These satellites are going to be in fixed positions on a narrow line across the sky.

"The first 1,584 Starlink satellites are slated to operate in orbits 341 miles (550 kilometers) above Earth, spread in 24 orbital planes inclined 53 degrees to the equator." is what I read.  I don't think that means fixed positions, and presumably it means twenty four lines across the sky.

 

16 minutes ago, don4l said:

Has anyone ever even photographed a geostationary satellite?

No idea.  I'd guess it's tricky though.  Geostationary orbit is something like 36,000km altitude.  The Starlink satellites will be in the same sort of region as the ISS.

James

[don4l]

7 minutes ago, JamesF said:

"The first 1,584 Starlink satellites are slated to operate in orbits 341 miles (550 kilometers) above Earth, spread in 24 orbital planes inclined 53 degrees to the equator." is what I read.  I don't think that means fixed positions, and presumably it means twenty four lines across the sky.

 

No idea.  I'd guess it's tricky though.  Geostationary orbit is something like 36,000km altitude.  The Starlink satellites will be in the same sort of region as the ISS.

James

Ahhh.  I see what the fuss is about.  I will have to sign the petition then.

[Benjam]

Fast forward to 0:40

 

[Jkulin]

4 hours ago, DaveS said:

5 hours ago, gajjer said:

Forgive my stupidity, but if they are telecoms satellites wont they be geostationary? If so, wont they just be extra pin points of light. Sounds a lot but the sky is very big.

Sorry, just a bit skeptical.

cheers

gaj

No, they're not geostationary, he's putting them into low earth orbit.

50 minutes ago, don4l said:

I wonder if this isn't a case of the Internet getting all worked up about nothing?

These satellites are going to be in fixed positions on a narrow line across the sky. 

Has anyone ever even photographed a geostationary satellite?

 

As @DaveS said they are not geostationary

[maw lod qan]

Sadly it is all about the money. I think I heard some figure that estimated the possible revenue  world wide being 300 billion, annually,  but I could have that wrong. 

When big money is concerned, governments dont care about the average person. We 're all just cash cows hooked up to the milking machine.

[Hallingskies]

Big business pollutes the planet for profit and for the greed of the few.  It's no surprise that they are now doing the same to the skies. Until national governments become immune to the influence of these polluters, nothing will change.

[Rusted]

I'm a martyr to the 1%.

[upahill]

4 hours ago, DaveS said:

I don't think Musk thought of anything beyond "Because I can" . It's the only reason egomaniacs like him need.

It's easy to hate on Musk, just about anyone who has ever done anything gets their share of naysayers and fanboys. But it's not just him - there are many companies attempting the same thing, Musk is just first, and so far the most likely to succeed.

If you watch some of the interviews with him I find he comes across as quite genuine (albeit socially quite awkward), Every project he has got involved in lately has been about progressing technologies, sometimes self funded, sometimes just as the spearhead. Electric cars, solar panels, battery technology, multiplanetary travel, air travel, polution reduction, worldwide internet. He makes money and then spends it on the next idea. Im not exactly getting a Dr. Evil vibe.

No ones perfect but slimming down his entire achievements to being fueled purely by his ego is a little unfair in my opinion.

4 hours ago, Rusted said:

What happens when the cost of the bandwidth for ads, trackers and cookies greatly exceeds global income from all advertising sales?

It won't - advertising spend is based on R.O.I so if an ad doesn't perform less gets spent on it. The only way to stop the ads, is to not buy the stuff.

4 hours ago, gajjer said:

LEO. So presumably messages bounce off the nearest passing satellite and a several satellites may be involved with any one message. Hmm. Interesting.  My question would then be, how do you deploy that many satellites. Do they pop them out the back of a single rocket? Sounds like an awful lot of rockets and pollution.

Certainly could mess up my pictures - if the clouds would ever clear for me to take some.

I think I read that they will be laser linked. Deployment is impressive and brings the costs down significantly (even more so when you consider reusable rockets)

1 hour ago, Benjam said:

Fast forward to 0:40

The image of the train going overhead shocked a few people, but you would be hard pushed to spot any of those now. The example shown later in the video of his satellite trails through the Rosette is a severe example of what im expecting - and can be dealt with using software.

[Rusted]

Quote: QOTD #18: "Astronomers, like burglars and jazz musicians, operate best at night." - Miles Kington

As a practising solar imager [4th Class] and Nyctophobic [White Belt] I take exception to being so excluded.  

It takes all sorts!

 

Good post, BTW.

 

[Alan White]

Visual astronomers have to put up with satellites romping through our observing,
that's at present numbers.
Chuck up 50,000 of them and wow, thats a lot of romping through going on.
I don't have the luxury of deleting them from my view.

As to the ethics of throwing up so much space junk with free enterprise,
sorry, but that is a giant mistake in my book. 
Cue the corporations running our lives sci-fi style very soon.
 

[Peter Drew]

On the brighter side, a meteor shower every night !      😃

[Ouroboros]

Could we amateurs crowd fund a resurrection of Ronald Reagan's Star Wars project. Zap zap zap zap zap..... 😉 

[Craney]

Just wait  until  Drones become  capable of going into space  .......  then it really is the end. 

[Alan White]

54 minutes ago, Peter Drew said:

On the brighter side, a meteor shower every night !      😃

Only when they start to collide Peter.