Don't worry, Sam, SpaceX won't ACTUALLY launch 7,000 satellites!
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@amfernee I wrote this op-ed about them (and other satellite constellations) a couple years ago for Nature: https://rdcu.be/drQOU
@sundogplanets I'll read, thanks for sharing!
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@sundogplanets I'll read, thanks for sharing!
@amfernee Thank you for reading!
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Don't worry, Sam, SpaceX won't ACTUALLY launch 7,000 satellites! (There are currently 10,296 Starlink sats in orbit)
Don't worry, SpaceX said they'd get their satellites below magnitude 7! (They have not https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/link_gateway/2025MNRAS.544L..15M/PUB_PDF)
Don't worry, they won't actually start Kessler Syndrome! https://outerspaceinstitute.ca/crashclock/
Don't worry, they won't actually launch a million AI data centres into orbit!! https://theconversation.com/a-new-space-race-could-turn-our-atmosphere-into-a-crematorium-for-satellites-276366
This is the fucking worst I-told-you-so https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
@sundogplanets the sky above the port was the colour of… oh FFS!
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@Brokar @sundogplanets @wraptile I’ll have you know that I’m not the malicious type.
I wonder if these sats are protected against laser mischief makers. You know like they used to do with airplanes.
@savera they are way too far for any commercial lasers to reach
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@sundogplanets and for what?
I did some napkin math some time ago: all these satellites cost around 10-15B usd to deploy. This would be equivalent of 0.5 - 1 million cell towers at 10-20k usd (yeah that cheap).
There are currently 7 million cell towers worldwide most of which are old and under-performing. With 1 million NEW cell towers with economies of scale we could have probably covered the same actual reach with better latency, access and affordability.Low orbit internet is a joke.
@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)
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Don't worry, Sam, SpaceX won't ACTUALLY launch 7,000 satellites! (There are currently 10,296 Starlink sats in orbit)
Don't worry, SpaceX said they'd get their satellites below magnitude 7! (They have not https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/link_gateway/2025MNRAS.544L..15M/PUB_PDF)
Don't worry, they won't actually start Kessler Syndrome! https://outerspaceinstitute.ca/crashclock/
Don't worry, they won't actually launch a million AI data centres into orbit!! https://theconversation.com/a-new-space-race-could-turn-our-atmosphere-into-a-crematorium-for-satellites-276366
This is the fucking worst I-told-you-so https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
@sundogplanets Don't you just hate it when a comet photobombs your satellite images?
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Some questions that keep coming up:
There are gaps in the lines because this is a bunch of shorter exposures over the course of 10 minutes added togetherKessler Syndrome is extremely bad for everybody, don't hope for it (though on my grumpier days I can definitely understand that perspective)
The many parallel lines come from the orbits that have been chosen by megaconstellation operators, mostly Starlink. You can see that somewhat in various satellite visualizers like https://satellitetracker3d.com/
@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>
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Don't worry, Sam, SpaceX won't ACTUALLY launch 7,000 satellites! (There are currently 10,296 Starlink sats in orbit)
Don't worry, SpaceX said they'd get their satellites below magnitude 7! (They have not https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/link_gateway/2025MNRAS.544L..15M/PUB_PDF)
Don't worry, they won't actually start Kessler Syndrome! https://outerspaceinstitute.ca/crashclock/
Don't worry, they won't actually launch a million AI data centres into orbit!! https://theconversation.com/a-new-space-race-could-turn-our-atmosphere-into-a-crematorium-for-satellites-276366
This is the fucking worst I-told-you-so https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
@sundogplanets it's horrifying. You get to see the grid into which our sky has been broken and bought up.
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@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>
@rootwyrm Thank you, I'm glad I'm not the only one head-wall-slamming
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@sundogplanets Don't you just hate it when a comet photobombs your satellite images?
@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"
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@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"
@Michkov (only mostly kidding)
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@rootwyrm Thank you, I'm glad I'm not the only one head-wall-slamming
@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.
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Well, you can also spy with the satellites. Can't do that with a cell tower (not that effective) and destroying one satellite does nothing to the system.
I really wish China would launch their own 10.000 satellites and program them on a collision course with the Starlink ones, forcing all of them to enter the atmosphere and burn out.
I would personally thank Xi for making astronomy possible again
@Brokar @sundogplanets @wraptile It's also much more difficult to destroy a satellite, almost impossible with conventional weapons.
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@savera they are way too far for any commercial lasers to reach
@wraptile I see
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Don't worry, Sam, SpaceX won't ACTUALLY launch 7,000 satellites! (There are currently 10,296 Starlink sats in orbit)
Don't worry, SpaceX said they'd get their satellites below magnitude 7! (They have not https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/link_gateway/2025MNRAS.544L..15M/PUB_PDF)
Don't worry, they won't actually start Kessler Syndrome! https://outerspaceinstitute.ca/crashclock/
Don't worry, they won't actually launch a million AI data centres into orbit!! https://theconversation.com/a-new-space-race-could-turn-our-atmosphere-into-a-crematorium-for-satellites-276366
This is the fucking worst I-told-you-so https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Putting an AI data center in orbit is impossible. The laws of man may be malleable, but the laws of thermodynamics are not.
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@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>
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)
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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)
@argv_minus_one @rootwyrm It'll just make it WAY WAY WAY riskier and more likely to require multiple attempts.
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@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.
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.
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@argv_minus_one @rootwyrm It'll just make it WAY WAY WAY riskier and more likely to require multiple attempts.
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.
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@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.
