Is there anything that can be done to stop this Starlink satellite project?

[pblackwell]

Hi folks,

 

I witnessed the Starlink satellites fly over London last night. It’s so unfair. Who gives them the right to ruin our night sky.

 

Is there anything that can be done to stop this?

Paul

[Stu]

13 minutes ago, pblackwell said:

Hi folks,

 

 

 

I witnessed the Starlink satellites fly over London last night. It’s so unfair. Who gives them the right to ruin our night sky.

 

 

 

Is there anything that can be done to stop this?

 

 

 

Paul

 

Not overly happy about it myself, a view shared by plenty of other I’m sure. I doubt there is very much that can be done to be honest. I’m hoping that they will be less obvious once in their final orbits but am not convinced.

[runway77]

This must be stopped. A private corporation for their own profit is destroying astronomy and polluting the night sky which belongs to everyone. This must end right now. How can this be, please do contact newspapers and show them the videos how would the sky look like when all the satellites would be put on the orbit. It is literally a catastrophe.

What they are doing is illegal.

 

Edited April 20, 2020 by runway77

[Guest]

Can't we play Space Invaders with them, would make great target practice!  Oh that's right, we don't have any ray guns.🙄

[Waddensky]

Although I recognise the sentiment, we'll have to wait until they are in their final orbits to really get an idea of the brightness of these satellites. They are in low-Earth orbit, so in theory they should only be visible after sunset or before sunrise (except perhaps maybe in the Summer). The first batch of satellites was invisible to the naked eye quite soon.

There is one Starlink satellite in orbit that has a coating to reduce its brightness (dubbed 'Darksat'). It's just a reduction of about a magnitude if I recall correctly.

No, we can't do much if 'the world' wants fast internet access everywhere and lives in large cities without any noticable night sky. But we can express our concerns, and do what we always do: create awareness and tell people about the wonders of the night sky.

[festoon]

https://www.change.org/p/stop-spacex-starlink-from-spoiling-outer-space-for-humanity?utm_content=cl_sharecopy_15746395_en-GB%3Av5&recruiter=893806509&recruited_by_id=152c8920-9ef0-11e8-8d7d-9dfbc18e2b71&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial&utm_term=d6d003a541f54cae8229d0614a3f639f

Just signed this - I'm amazed this has been allowed

[MarkAR]

Signed and shared.

Edited April 20, 2020 by MarkAR

[pblackwell]

Signed and shared. Done 👍🏻

[carastro]

There is also another petition, doesn't hurt to sign both. 

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/community_petitions/SpaceEx_Starlink_Fifty_thousand_telecom_satellites_will_make_astronomy_impossible/?aVIigpb&newuser=1

Carole 

[John]

The project has been running since 2015 with the permissions being considered in 2017 and approved towards the end of that year. Worldwide astronomy organisations did raise concerns at the time but the decision was still to go ahead. I believe the project gathered additional impetus when the US military took an interest in it.

By all means sign the petitions etc but in all honesty I don't see any chance whatsoever in stopping this programme now.

[pblackwell]

12 minutes ago, John said:

The project has been running since 2015 with the permissions being considered in 2017 and approved towards the end of that year. Worldwide astronomy organisations did raise concerns at the time but the decision was still to go ahead. I believe the project gathered additional impetus when the US military took an interest in it.

By all means sign the petitions etc but in all honesty I don't see any chance whatsoever in stopping this programme now.

If like what I saw last night then this is truely  awful and I dread to think what it will be like with 12,000+ of them constantly orbiting 😔

Edited April 20, 2020 by pblackwell

[DaveL59]

wait till they start failing and a new load get thrown up there, no doubt the old junk will be left floating around and still messing up the views. Surprised NASA and others haven't stepped in as they must reach a point where launching anything to head out of earth orbit will be running even more of a gauntlet of space garbage.

It's a kinda pointless thing to be doing really too. There's only so many areas where internet via satellite is really worth putting into place surely? Most developed regions already have infrastructure that would be far better and more reliable so it only really serves for really remote/under-developed regions. So why not just put a few geo-stationary units up there like they have for telecoms and TV rather than litter the entire sky?

[miguel87]

18 minutes ago, John said:

The project has been running since 2015 with the permissions being considered in 2017 and approved towards the end of that year. Worldwide astronomy organisations did raise concerns at the time but the decision was still to go ahead. I believe the project gathered additional impetus when the US military took an interest in it.

By all means sign the petitions etc but in all honesty I don't see any chance whatsoever in stopping this programme now.

I agree with this entirely.

I also thing it is likely that the youtube videos are not based on any actual data so could be very inaccurate.

If they are low earth orbit then like others have said they will have virtually no impact in proper astronomical dark.

Dont get me wrong, I really dont like them and if I thought I could do anything to stop them, I would.

I really hope their impact is minimal

[Ouroboros]

The weather forecaster tonight on BBC South even suggested people should look up tonight at around 10pm to see the spectacular display of satellites passing over.  Great! People are going to start liking these monstrous things. More! More! More!  😪

Edited April 20, 2020 by Ouroboros

[DaveL59]

gonna be appearing all week folks...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-52355706

 

[DaveL59]

2 hours ago, miguel87 said:

if I thought I could do anything to stop them, I would.

 

well with not many planes flying at the moment... anyone got a decent carbon laser handy...  

[Space Hopper]

I saw them by chance last night : about 40 of them at a guess.

So i went out tonight at the listed time, and never saw them at all. Typical !!

Just the odd one here and there......maybe that was Elons car ?

 

[jock1958]

Cheers @festoon signed and shared.

Like others have said it’s  too late to stop this project but never too late to log your concerns and objections! 

[lukebl]

Sadly, I think that 99% of the public couldn't care less about the skies becoming more cluttered, and even embrace it.

On my village community Facebook page (very busy with the lockdown), someone has excitedly posted updates on viewing them and loads of locals are out watching them. No interest in protecting our natural environment whatsoever, and we should consider the skies above our heads as an integral part of the wider natural environment.

Edited April 21, 2020 by lukebl

[teoria_del_big_bang]

3 hours ago, lukebl said:

Sadly, I think that 99% of the public couldn't care less about the skies becoming more cluttered, and even embrace it.

On my village community Facebook page (very busy with the lockdown), someone has excitedly posted updates on viewing them and loads of locals are out watching them. No interest in protecting our natural environment whatsoever. 

I was thinking something similar but regarding LP last night.

In a way I am quite lucky and live on the very outskirts of our town, with a long rear garden with really very little else at the rear but still on an estate. Most neighbours have rear flood lights that come on and off but next door but one has upgraded theirs to what must be 1KW of lighting, maybe it is only 500W but it is like daylight for almost as far as you can see when it comes on (and that's whenever a cat goes past). I was just wondering what makes anyone need to make it daylight again in the wee hours of the night. I do have a rear light that I can permanently turn off when imaging but it is 20W led and illuminates my 50M long garden amply to see what I am doing.

For domestic use I just wish there was a limit on the wattage of these things at least. Mind you somebody would then just put more than one of them up.

Steve

Edited April 21, 2020 by teoria_del_big_bang

[BlueStinger]

Wow. So sad to read about this. As usual it's all about money, so nothing will stop them all going up. I hate humanity at times. Lord help the rest of the solar system, and beyond, if we manage to venture outwards in the future seeing as we pollute and destroy everything we come across. Seems like my new hobby will be very short lived....

[Doc]

99% of the public don't even look at the nightsky so wouldn't care one bit if it was full of satalites. When all 12,000 or even 42,000 which is the ultimate goal are in orbit that will be the end of astronomy.

[Xplode]

On 20/04/2020 at 20:40, DaveL59 said:

wait till they start failing and a new load get thrown up there, no doubt the old junk will be left floating around and still messing up the views. Surprised NASA and others haven't stepped in as they must reach a point where launching anything to head out of earth orbit will be running even more of a gauntlet of space garbage.

It's a kinda pointless thing to be doing really too. There's only so many areas where internet via satellite is really worth putting into place surely? Most developed regions already have infrastructure that would be far better and more reliable so it only really serves for really remote/under-developed regions. So why not just put a few geo-stationary units up there like they have for telecoms and TV rather than litter the entire sky?

Failed satellites will deorbit automatically.

It's not pointless, it will give people who either don't have internet or who has crappy internet service like from geostationary satellites the possibility to get fast internet with low ping times.
Internet from geostationary satellites usually has a ping of 500-1500ms, browsing on it is a bad experience because of the slow response, the slowness is caused by their large distance from the earth.
Starlink will have a low ping time of around 10-20ms from what i've read, this will of course rise with distance like with regular internet.

[BGazing]

There's an online petition going on

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/community_petitions/SpaceX_and_companies_planning_to_launch_constellations_of_satellites_Losing_the_night_sky_due_to_tens_of_thousands_of_satellites/

[BGazing]

25 minutes ago, Xplode said:

Failed satellites will deorbit automatically.

It's not pointless, it will give people who either don't have internet or who has crappy internet service like from geostationary satellites the possibility to get fast internet with low ping times.
Internet from geostationary satellites usually has a ping of 500-1500ms, browsing on it is a bad experience because of the slow response, the slowness is caused by their large distance from the earth.
Starlink will have a low ping time of around 10-20ms from what i've read, this will of course rise with distance like with regular internet.

And at the same time it will turn the planet into some kind of Coruscant. Insane project.