No, they're not aliens — SpaceX's Star fleet surprises British skywatchers

[Admin]

British skywatchers spotted a trail of lights in their night skies this past weekend as SpaceX's Star satellites passed overhead. Some thought they were UFOs.

No, they're not aliens — SpaceX's Star fleet surprises British skywatchers : Read more

 

[rarchimedes]

Elon is spamming those into orbit with the only reusable booster on the planet, something NASA and most others said wasn't possible. He is about to return U.S. astronauts to the ISS using U.S. equipment for the first time since the last Shuttle flight. ULA's Starliner is thrown into orbit by a Russian engined booster and it isn't yet ready in any case.

It is apparent that the albedo of the satellites is being sharply reduced and the older, shinier ones will fairly rapidly fall from orbit. If telescopes cannot handle satellites of any albedo, then there will be a need to put telescopes in orbits above the constellations or on the back side of the Moon. They would work much better there in any case. If I worked for ULA or Roscosmos, I certainly would resent competition from the likes of SpaceX. Not only are SpaceX rockets at least partly reusable, they are less expensive, even in fully expendable mode. How does one compete with that, knowing that even if you make your rockets partly reusable, they can't compete, with a fully reusable rocket coming on in the very short term.

Hopefully, the Starship and Superheavy combination will entirely replace the horrendously expensive SLS/Orion combination, giving us access to the Moon and Mars with other than expensive NASA toys and with entirely reusable rockets. Take a trip to the Moon, today, and in a week and a half, do it again with the same rocket. In the mean time, the SLS/Orion will cost around two billion per launch and the Orion will be refurbishable, not reusable. The SLS will burn up after use. There are parts for three SLS's and it appears that the launch rate will never exceed two per year, optimistically. How does one support a Moon base with two launches per year?

 

[sward]

Hi there, due to the forum rules, we've removed some inappropriate content and discussion of moderation from this thread, friendly reminder to keep content civil as per the forum rules.

 

[Truthseeker007]

What he is doing is polluting low Earth Orbit and the world with 5G. Where are the Climate Change folks on this?

 

[Francesco81]

I agree with you Truthseeker007 , this is horrible.
I loved everything Elon did in the past . He is a great man , why fall so low with this ?
Money ? is it fine to pollute the night sky, create problems for astronomers ? if you get enough money probably it is eh ?

 

[almacd64]

What he is doing is polluting low Earth Orbit and the world with 5G. Where are the Climate Change folks on this?

Ahh, well to answer the actual question asked, Tim Dodd on the Everyday Astronaut YT channels has an excellent analysis of polution from rocket launches, and puts it into perspective with other stuff going on.

As to your 5G statement, this is absolute rubbish. Starlink has nothing to do with 5G in any way shape or form.

Thanks.

 

[almacd64]

I agree with you Truthseeker007 , this is horrible.
I loved everything Elon did in the past . He is a great man , why fall so low with this ?
Money ? is it fine to pollute the night sky, create problems for astronomers ? if you get enough money probably it is eh ?

Umm, a point that seems to be glossed over in these articles is that these satellites are visible in the low drag configuration (ie narrow side facing the minimal atmosphere at that height, flat side facing down) while they are raising their orbits.

Once they are at the their operating altitude their orientation changes.

This is because they use very low power thrusters to raise their orbit, so it's good to avoid even the tiny amount of drag that they encounter from wisps of atmosphere.

Once they're up you'd be hard pressed to find them.

 

[Truthseeker007]

I agree with you Truthseeker007 , this is horrible.
I loved everything Elon did in the past . He is a great man , why fall so low with this ?
Money ? is it fine to pollute the night sky, create problems for astronomers ? if you get enough money probably it is eh ?

Thanks Francesco. The way I see it. It is all about the roll out of the 5G and control. A full on A,I, society rolled into Transhumanism.

It sure is making MUFON very busy also with everyone thinking they are UFO's. Come to think of it now it will be hard to tell the difference between a real UFO and these satellites. In reality now when any UFO is reported they can just say it is satellites.

 

[Truthseeker007]

Ahh, well to answer the actual question asked, Tim Dodd on the Everyday Astronaut YT channels has an excellent analysis of polution from rocket launches, and puts it into perspective with other stuff going on.

As to your 5G statement, this is absolute rubbish. Starlink has nothing to do with 5G in any way shape or form.

Thanks.

So are you saying the article above is wrong where it states:

"SpaceX intends to, over time, launch a megaconstellation of at least 12,000 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit to provide better, worldwide internet access."

What do you think they will be supplying 4G internet?

 

[Lovethrust]

Elon is spamming those into orbit with the only reusable booster on the planet, something NASA and most others said wasn't possible.

Yeah NASA never said that.

 

[Lovethrust]

Once they're up you'd be hard pressed to find them.

Tell that to the astronomers, the sats will find them.

 

[Carl Swart]

What he is doing is polluting low Earth Orbit and the world with 5G. Where are the Climate Change folks on this?

Worrying about and working tirelessly to prevent the actual literal destruction of our planet and catastrophic change to its natural biological functions, and not goofy conspiracy theories about a number change in mobile platforms and robot takeovers.

I agree that shooting essentially thousands of tons of trash into space is absurd and wrong, for what that's worth, but there are higher priorities. Why are you bagging on "the Climate Change folks"--maybe your energy would be more productive advocating for what you want instead of trashing what they do? As for the 5G panic, c'mon mate,

 

[Truthseeker007]

Worrying about and working tirelessly to prevent the actual literal destruction of our planet and catastrophic change to its natural biological functions, and not goofy conspiracy theories about a number change in mobile platforms and robot takeovers.

I agree that shooting essentially thousands of tons of trash into space is absurd and wrong, for what that's worth, but there are higher priorities. Why are you bagging on "the Climate Change folks"--maybe your energy would be more productive advocating for what you want instead of trashing what they do? As for the 5G panic, c'mon mate,

I think being worried about climate change is just as bad as being worried about 5G. They are both conspiracy theories. The difference is the mainstream is on board with the climate change conspiracy pundits(scientists) and they have a lot more money to put out propaganda. Out of the two I would say 5G is just as devastating to the human body and animals as factory pollution as is in China. Where is Peta on this and animal rights?