Elon Musk wants to put a million new satellites into space.

[dragonfrog@mastodon.sdf.org]

@Paulatics @sundogplanets (see also: Hyperloop - a project whose goal was never to actually build any rapid mass transit, but rather to look like a much better thing that was just over the horizon, which would dissuade governments from investing in currently existing mass transit technologies like rail. And it worked.)

[paulatics@mstdn.ca]

@dragonfrog @sundogplanets The FCC filing reads like a fever dream. It is one of the oddest legal documents I have ever seen.

[jfmezei@cosocial.ca]

@Paulatics @sundogplanets NORAD is the bidy that tracks satellites. It maintains a big database. (During Soviet era, they used radar to detect orbits of undeclared spy satellites).

[jfmezei@cosocial.ca]

@Paulatics @sundogplanets thé Starlink satellites are “disposable” because at their low orbit there is still air resistance so from the day they are launched, they start to slow down. Even the space station which is at higher orbit needs reboost at regular intervals to maintain its altitude.

[jfmezei@cosocial.ca]

@Paulatics @sundogplanets Melon Husk’s request fir 1 million satellite orbits is to lock up these orbits so nobody else can use them without paying Melon Husk. Husk is taking advantage of the current easily bribable regine to gain control over these orbits as anti competitive measure. As with Hyperloop, Melon Husk has no intention to build a data centre in space.

[jfmezei@cosocial.ca]

@sundogplanets @Paulatics great speech BTW.

[davidm_yeg@beige.party]

@Paulatics @sundogplanets

2023 study showed that as much as 10% of high atmosphere metal compounds were *already* pollution from space technology… and the challenge in that is that unlike other ozone deleters these molecules don’t get consumed, but instead the same molecule can catalyze an ozone destroying reaction again and again, while remaining in the atmosphere for decades.

1/

[davidm_yeg@beige.party]

@Paulatics @sundogplanets

As this pollution will take a few decades to descend to the ozone layer the problem is urgent, because by the time we start to observe significant ozone depletion any solutions or responses will take *more* decades to have any effect, and that’s even assuming that mitigation is possible. The only sensible solution is to stop putting this junk up over our heads in the first place.

2/f

[cstamp@mastodon.social]

@Paulatics @sundogplanets Thanks to both of you.

[jfmezei@cosocial.ca]

@Paulatics A satellite's orbit is/was defined as a TLE (Two Line Element) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-line_element_set
One field is a catalog number maintained by NORAD. It is 5 digits as part of the file format. This year, due to increasing number of objects tracked, we reach this limit and people have to start using a new format that has 6 digits (and 4 digit years !).

TLE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-line_element_set
Catalog Number: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_Catalog_Number

new formats: https://celestrak.org/NORAD/documentation/gp-data-formats.php (much more complex than TLEs)

[dlink@posthat.ca]

@Paulatics @sundogplanets Fantastic. Thank you

[bougiewonderland@freeradical.zone]

@Paulatics @sundogplanets The clerk’s face at times! Even he can’t manage to totally hide his reaction to this!

[bjb@fosstodon.org]

@Paulatics @sundogplanets

The request for approval to launch a million satellites is not so much a request to launch a million satellites as a request for carte blanche for whatever rocket-oriented activities they want to do for the next few decades, without having to ask permission each time.

Apparently they did not give a lot of specific details in their request, that's so they can use the blanket approval for whatever they want.

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[bjb@fosstodon.org]

@Paulatics @sundogplanets

Any satellite with a computer and data link (ie, any satellite) can fit the description of "data centre".

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[clintruin@mastodon.social]

@Paulatics @sundogplanets

Big Thanks!

[paulatics@mstdn.ca]

@bougiewonderland @sundogplanets That dapper fellow is Speaker Pro Tempore Rene Cormier - who in his other life was an actor and stage director. He makes a great audience.

[crovanian@mastodon.social]

@Paulatics why don’t we pin his net worth to these falling satellites and whoever’s field or house they land on wins the Musk Multi-Million Lotto!

[bougiewonderland@freeradical.zone]

@Paulatics @sundogplanets oops, my bad! I hadn’t realized the speaker sat down anywhere but in the Chair!

[paulatics@mstdn.ca]

@bougiewonderland @sundogplanets He is what you might call the deputy/back up speaker. He shares duties with the Speaker and leads Committee of the Whole.