Don't worry, Sam, SpaceX won't ACTUALLY launch 7,000 satellites!

[wraptile@fosstodon.org]

@savera they are way too far for any commercial lasers to reach

[toroidalcore@masto.hackers.town]

@wraptile @sundogplanets I meant to post this as a reply:

ToroidalCore (@toroidalcore@masto.hackers.town)

I've wondered if Starlink would've made sense for them if fiber had been built out everywhere it was promised. (That is, the 'fiber is 100 ft away but $ISP won't connect me' crowd.) I still get Starlink adds in my area, even though wired internet is available and a much better value. (I put my address in back in the day, so presumably there is some targetting.)

Hackers.Town (masto.hackers.town)

[michkov@mas.to]

@sundogplanets Don't you just hate it when a comet photobombs your satellite images?

[rootwyrm@weird.autos]

@sundogplanets "oh, but Kessler syndrome will just destroy all their stuff! Didn't you say that's good?"
<infinite_screaming.gif>

It's fine. It's FINE. IT'S FINE!
Who the fuck needs ships that can navigate the oceans or an ozone layer or even an atmosphere or working communications infrastructure anyway?

<imagine me slamming my head into the wall repeatedly>

[cathos@merveilles.town]

@sundogplanets it's horrifying. You get to see the grid into which our sky has been broken and bought up.

[sundogplanets@mastodon.social]

@rootwyrm Thank you, I'm glad I'm not the only one head-wall-slamming

[sundogplanets@mastodon.social]

@Michkov Can you please say this to all the people who replied to this image "ack-chew-ally I think this new sky-grid is beautiful"

[sundogplanets@mastodon.social]

@Michkov (only mostly kidding)

[rootwyrm@weird.autos]

@sundogplanets the ones who are all "you're overreacting," I don't know how I have not been charged with murder. I really don't.

There is a reason I included the detail that a society with *interstellar travel* and *aneutronic fusion* completely lost access to an entire planet for nearly a CENTURY when two large freighters collided in mid orbit at speed. And that was not NEARLY as bad as the mess we are in.

[cosmiccactus@mastodon.social]

@Brokar @sundogplanets @wraptile It's also much more difficult to destroy a satellite, almost impossible with conventional weapons.

[savera@mastodon.sdf.org]

@wraptile I see

[argv_minus_one@mastodon.sdf.org]

@sundogplanets

Putting an AI data center in orbit is impossible. The laws of man may be malleable, but the laws of thermodynamics are not.

[argv_minus_one@mastodon.sdf.org]

@rootwyrm

Kessler syndrome in low Earth orbit won't entirely prevent the deployment of replacement GPS satellites or otherwise launching rockets into outer space.

Probably. One hopes.

Can Space Debris Block Access to Outer Space?

Analysis of Kessler syndrome risks and whether orbital debris could prevent launches beyond Earth. Examines accidental cascades, deliberate dispersal threats, and mitigation strategies.

Forethought (www.forethought.org)

@sundogplanets

[sundogplanets@mastodon.social]

@argv_minus_one @rootwyrm It'll just make it WAY WAY WAY riskier and more likely to require multiple attempts.

[argv_minus_one@mastodon.sdf.org]

@rootwyrm

How could a society have aneutronic fusion and interstellar travel, yet be unable to armor or shield their ships enough to shrug off impact by orbital debris?

I mean, even if you don't have Star Trek deflector shields, but you do have a rocket powered by a fusion reactor, then you should be able to at least slap some pretty thick slabs of armor on your ship and still fly.

And not even weird exotic armor. Orbital debris hits with the force of a grenade, not a nuke.

@sundogplanets

[argv_minus_one@mastodon.sdf.org]

@sundogplanets

Not according to the numbers in the linked article. 0.5% chance of collision per launch is not great, especially if the mission isn't unmanned, but with odds like that you can still put GPS satellites into orbit pretty reliably.

@rootwyrm

[guigsy@mstdn.social]

@Tofu_Golem @sundogplanets I think the current Starlinks consume a sustained 22kW! These server sats would be a few times bigger. But it's not impossible. The engineering can be done.

I hate the idea. I still think it'll fail in many other ways. But the engineering has largely been proven already.

[hipsterelectron@circumstances.run]

@sundogplanets does the advent of kessler syndrome also definitionally imply more space surveillance of remote spots on earth?

[john_loader@ohai.social]

@sundogplanets Anti alien minefield!

[michkov@mas.to]

@sundogplanets On a serious note, that may be a result of living under light pollution for your whole live. With so many people living in cities, they don't even know what they lose to the mega constellations.