5 ms·

Do the satellites disrupt telescopes world wide? If that's the case it's pretty tough on observatories that were recently built, at (apparently) a tens of mill

by tylfin 7y ago

Do the satellites disrupt telescopes world wide? If that's the case it's pretty tough on observatories that were recently built, at (apparently) a tens of millions of dollar price tag, that are now impacted by the decision to launch without proper oversight. Obviously having more accessible internet for the rest of the world is a positive. Ref: https://www.space.com/8791-giant-telescope-50-million-funding.html https://www.space.com/8791-giant-telescope-50-million-fundin...

GhettoMaestro 7y ago
It is a world wide issue as I understand it. I wonder if we need to create certain orbit paths that are not used for LEO / star link-ish sats. Perhaps at the extreme poles? This is totally not my area of expertise so I may be proposing some really dumb stuff.
DennisP 7y ago
Not only internet, but Starlink funds Starship and gives it enough payload to start amortizing the rockets. With Starship launch prices at scale, astronomers can have all sorts of space telescopes at their disposal, and it won't cost much. This isn't only because launch will be cheaper. Space hardware is expensive mostly because it has to be both durable and lightweight. If launch is cheap, it's fine for the hardware to be heavy, and if it breaks then it doesn't cost much to replace it. Beyond astronomy, Starlink revenue and Starship are the keys to becoming a real space-faring society.
- bathtub365 7y ago
  I really don't think it's a good thing for a company to cause problems for ground-based astronomy in the name of selling space-based astronomy.
  - DennisP 7y ago
    It's in the name of expanding civilization beyond this planet, but sure, space-based astronomy is one part of that. However, I'm not claiming SpaceX will be selling space telescopes. They'll just provide really cheap launch services to anyone who wants to launch one.

5 ms·

Do the satellites disrupt telescopes world wide? If that's the case it's pretty tough on observatories that were recently built, at (apparently) a tens of mill

by tylfin 7y ago

GhettoMaestro 7y ago
It is a world wide issue as I understand it. I wonder if we need to create certain orbit paths that are not used for LEO / star link-ish sats. Perhaps at the extreme poles? This is totally not my area of expertise so I may be proposing some really dumb stuff.
DennisP 7y ago
Not only internet, but Starlink funds Starship and gives it enough payload to start amortizing the rockets. With Starship launch prices at scale, astronomers can have all sorts of space telescopes at their disposal, and it won't cost much. This isn't only because launch will be cheaper. Space hardware is expensive mostly because it has to be both durable and lightweight. If launch is cheap, it's fine for the hardware to be heavy, and if it breaks then it doesn't cost much to replace it. Beyond astronomy, Starlink revenue and Starship are the keys to becoming a real space-faring society.
- bathtub365 7y ago
  I really don't think it's a good thing for a company to cause problems for ground-based astronomy in the name of selling space-based astronomy.
  - DennisP 7y ago
    It's in the name of expanding civilization beyond this planet, but sure, space-based astronomy is one part of that. However, I'm not claiming SpaceX will be selling space telescopes. They'll just provide really cheap launch services to anyone who wants to launch one.