Any journalists want to write an article about all the environmental costs of the more than 10,000 Starlinks that are now in orbit?
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@sundogplanets I am worried that at some point it could create a Kessler Effect
@alexf24 @sundogplanets Yeah, I'm not really worried about reentry given how small each one is, but this is a much more pressing concern.
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@sundogplanets I remember when I was a kid you looked up in the sky and seeing a satellite was something cool and unusual.

I remember... I used to take my binoculars and head out into the middle of nowhere to catch glimpses of the ISS when it was still new.
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@sundogplanets
Truly awful. And also on track to pull off a nice heist of everyone's retirement savings. Accelerated entry into the indexes, weighted at 5x actual float. Which means every passive index fund that doesn't exclude mega-caps will be forced to buy a ton of that garbage...
Michael Burry Flags 'Structural Manipulation' Risk In Nasdaq Rules Ahead Of Potential SpaceX Listing
Michael Burry slams Nasdaq's proposed rule changes that could fast-track SpaceX into the Nasdaq-100 just 15 days after its IPO, warning of forced passive buying and insider wealth transfer at the expense of retail investors.
Sahm (www.sahmcapital.com)
apologies for the YouTube link... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rS3fTbC7TE
@dirkhh Thank you for surfacing this. The numbers by Patrick Boyle in the youtube video are breathtaking.
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Any journalists want to write an article about all the environmental costs of the more than 10,000 Starlinks that are now in orbit? All I'm seeing are breathless articles mindlessly worshiping That Awful Billionaire for crossing the 10,000 satellite mark.
Every single one of those will come down in an uncontrolled reentry. That's a lot of metal in the atmosphere, and a lot of dice-rolling to see if any more pieces will make it to the ground.
SpaceX is truly awful.
@sundogplanets What are you talking about?!
During bombings in ground wars, there are far more pieces of metal! -
Any journalists want to write an article about all the environmental costs of the more than 10,000 Starlinks that are now in orbit? All I'm seeing are breathless articles mindlessly worshiping That Awful Billionaire for crossing the 10,000 satellite mark.
Every single one of those will come down in an uncontrolled reentry. That's a lot of metal in the atmosphere, and a lot of dice-rolling to see if any more pieces will make it to the ground.
SpaceX is truly awful.
@sundogplanets I do wonder how much research/consideration typically goes into the impact of orbital structures burning up in the atmosphere when a company or organization is designing something to be put into orbit.
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@johnlogic When I bought my Starlink kit, I could not get either of those. Having invested in that kit, I'm obviously not going to ditch it. Not to mention the time spent routing cables through walls and roof voids. So whether I can _now_ get ViaSat or HughesNet is immaterial.
EDIT: On checking, Viasat and HughesNet have completely unacceptable latency anyway.@drewtowler ViaSat and HughesNet use few satellites in geostationary orbits, which are higher than the many disposable satellites that Starlink uses in low Earth orbit.
I've tried VoIP over a GEO system and the latency caused it to be marginal at best. But the latency wasn't an issue for most other uses.
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Any journalists want to write an article about all the environmental costs of the more than 10,000 Starlinks that are now in orbit? All I'm seeing are breathless articles mindlessly worshiping That Awful Billionaire for crossing the 10,000 satellite mark.
Every single one of those will come down in an uncontrolled reentry. That's a lot of metal in the atmosphere, and a lot of dice-rolling to see if any more pieces will make it to the ground.
SpaceX is truly awful.
@sundogplanets heard that there are 77,000 of them up there chaining in Earth or is it CAGING Earth ...🤨

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Any journalists want to write an article about all the environmental costs of the more than 10,000 Starlinks that are now in orbit? All I'm seeing are breathless articles mindlessly worshiping That Awful Billionaire for crossing the 10,000 satellite mark.
Every single one of those will come down in an uncontrolled reentry. That's a lot of metal in the atmosphere, and a lot of dice-rolling to see if any more pieces will make it to the ground.
SpaceX is truly awful.
@sundogplanets Sure. Ill write it. Headline will be:
"Starlink: From Space to Your Face"
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Any journalists want to write an article about all the environmental costs of the more than 10,000 Starlinks that are now in orbit? All I'm seeing are breathless articles mindlessly worshiping That Awful Billionaire for crossing the 10,000 satellite mark.
Every single one of those will come down in an uncontrolled reentry. That's a lot of metal in the atmosphere, and a lot of dice-rolling to see if any more pieces will make it to the ground.
SpaceX is truly awful.
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@hundhamm @sundogplanets
It is so painful since didn't we fix the hole in the ozone just a little while back and now this absolute troglodyte billionare is like, "Hold my beer, I can fuck that up faster than the industries before me."Every billionare should lose first their wealth and then their freedom, and finally their ability to breathe for the crimes they have commited against everyone and everything on this planet.
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@simon @sundogplanets IPO on June 9. Gotta get all the material out to ensure this is a massive flop by then.
@foxxtrot @simon @sundogplanets I’m not sure that will work. Starlink is ideal for billionaires and criminals to avoid regulation and taxation.
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@hundhamm @sundogplanets
It is so painful since didn't we fix the hole in the ozone just a little while back and now this absolute troglodyte billionare is like, "Hold my beer, I can fuck that up faster than the industries before me."Every billionare should lose first their wealth and then their freedom, and finally their ability to breathe for the crimes they have commited against everyone and everything on this planet.
Painful, yes.
But it’s all of us.
Of course China will want a global network. And Europe will want a free internet as well—only for self-defense.
We are killing ourselves with dead dinosaurs and communication debris.
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@drewtowler ViaSat and HughesNet use few satellites in geostationary orbits, which are higher than the many disposable satellites that Starlink uses in low Earth orbit.
I've tried VoIP over a GEO system and the latency caused it to be marginal at best. But the latency wasn't an issue for most other uses.
@johnlogic It would be unworkable for me.
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@Legit_Spaghetti Sadly, I suspect there are enough Marks, hoodwinked by Musk, that the IPO won't be a *complete* disaster (though their projected valuation is outright lunacy), but here's hoping it's a flop that destroys the Cult of Musk forever.
@foxxtrot @Legit_Spaghetti
An interesting video on this:
https://youtu.be/8rS3fTbC7TE?si=D646-604YSfluhuvTldw: changes to SEC listing rules could make all index tracking funds have to purchase SpaceX shares at insane valuation
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Any journalists want to write an article about all the environmental costs of the more than 10,000 Starlinks that are now in orbit? All I'm seeing are breathless articles mindlessly worshiping That Awful Billionaire for crossing the 10,000 satellite mark.
Every single one of those will come down in an uncontrolled reentry. That's a lot of metal in the atmosphere, and a lot of dice-rolling to see if any more pieces will make it to the ground.
SpaceX is truly awful.
@sundogplanets @NatureMC Thank you!
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Starlink is designed to try to sell slightly-lower-latency links at a steep premium.
To do that, the Starlinks need to fly low.
To fly low and provide continuous coverage, SpaceX needs a lot of them.
Versus Iridium managing with 76 active satellites.
@michael_w_busch @Becovich Starlink also has higher ambitions concerning internet speed or bandwidth. I think that also requires more satellites, no?
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Any journalists want to write an article about all the environmental costs of the more than 10,000 Starlinks that are now in orbit? All I'm seeing are breathless articles mindlessly worshiping That Awful Billionaire for crossing the 10,000 satellite mark.
Every single one of those will come down in an uncontrolled reentry. That's a lot of metal in the atmosphere, and a lot of dice-rolling to see if any more pieces will make it to the ground.
SpaceX is truly awful.
@sundogplanets would you be willing to act as an interview partner? I think it's a very interesting subject
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Any journalists want to write an article about all the environmental costs of the more than 10,000 Starlinks that are now in orbit? All I'm seeing are breathless articles mindlessly worshiping That Awful Billionaire for crossing the 10,000 satellite mark.
Every single one of those will come down in an uncontrolled reentry. That's a lot of metal in the atmosphere, and a lot of dice-rolling to see if any more pieces will make it to the ground.
SpaceX is truly awful.
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@sundogplanets SpaceX - or rather #Starlink - is my lifeline, and the lifeline of many thousands of others living in a rural location with no proper broadband service. #Spacex may be "awful" but it has improved my quality of life immeasurably.
@drewtowler @sundogplanets I'm sympathetic with you. Makes sense from your personal viewpoint. I've two doubts.
Bad take: does it make sense to pollute the atmosphere at global scale to bring connectivity in rural areas, if we balance the improved quality of life of the few benefiting against literally the rest of mankind (to be specist)? An utilitarian and an individualist would have no doubts. I have a preference too but I don't think it's ok to abandon rural areas and minority conditions in general.
So, the second doubt:
how much would it cost to bring 5G equivalent connectivity even to remote places? Is it really more expensive than the satellite system? Even without accounting for the negative externalities? And accounting for them? and even if it were, wouldn't it be the only ethical choice (albeit expensive)? -
Any journalists want to write an article about all the environmental costs of the more than 10,000 Starlinks that are now in orbit? All I'm seeing are breathless articles mindlessly worshiping That Awful Billionaire for crossing the 10,000 satellite mark.
Every single one of those will come down in an uncontrolled reentry. That's a lot of metal in the atmosphere, and a lot of dice-rolling to see if any more pieces will make it to the ground.
SpaceX is truly awful.
As a person with asthma who fondly remembers CFC inhalers, Starlink irks me.
Disabled people gave up better medication delivery for the ozone layer and Werner Von Clown gets to unilaterally decide to wreck the atmosphere. Cool. Fine. Perfect. This is fine.
