Saw the SpaceX Starlink satellites

[dlundblad]

Whenever I walk the dogs and the night is clear, I look up at the sky. Astronomy, planes etc. It interests me.

I saw one satellite moving pretty fast. Then another and another. I stopped counting at 10, but figured dozens went by in a few minutes.

Google told me what they were. Had no idea they existed.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.space.com/amp/see-spacex-starlink-satellites-in-night-sky.html

 

[eljefino]

Seems a bit nuts to have to pollute the night sky to have reasonable competition in internet service. We can't do this with terrestrial tech?

 

[Pew]

Originally Posted by eljefino
Seems a bit nuts to have to pollute the night sky to have reasonable competition in internet service. We can't do this with terrestrial tech?


If we could have, we definitely would but there's too much variables from temperature/humidity to physical blocks like mountains and buildings

 

[Danno]

Originally Posted by eljefino
Seems a bit nuts to have to pollute the night sky to have reasonable competition in internet service. We can't do this with terrestrial tech?

Terrestrial tech would need line of sight, and so many more towers. Pick your poison.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by Danno
Originally Posted by eljefino
Seems a bit nuts to have to pollute the night sky to have reasonable competition in internet service. We can't do this with terrestrial tech?

Terrestrial tech would need line of sight, and so many more towers. Pick your poison.


It's a very bad poison with those in the sky. Will really affect astronomy. Eventually there will be 42k of them and that's just one company. There's several others with plans to also put a bunch up there.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/starts...ify-with-spacexs-latest-starlink-launch/

 

[dlundblad]

I don't mind either, but yes, satellites are far less noticeable IMO. They just look like little stars anyways.

I'm not sure where they plan on adding their internet service, but I'm guessing places that would otherwise have nothing would now have coverage.

 

[MasterSolenoid]

With technology today,
it's like letting the Genie out of his bottle.

 

[Saabist]

Another bad idea from carnival huckster Musk.

 

[Snagglefoot]

SpaceX launched another 52 Starlink Satellites yesterday. Upon release they were visible in clear night sky. We saw a seven in a straight line that at first seemed like a creepy UFO.

 

[JustinH]

this is the answer to the problem of rural internet connectivity.

 

[Snagglefoot]

Here is a shot of the first batch released in 2019. There are now over 1600 Starlink Satellites.

 

[alarmguy]

Seems a bit nuts to have to pollute the night sky to have reasonable competition in internet service. We can't do this with terrestrial tech?

Agree, space litter, we already have cell towers and with the coming of 5g satellite internet is, well, redundant.

But dont take my statement as I am against it, time will only tell if its worth it, to have all this crap flying above our heads when we already have enough of it on the ground. I am against the "blank check" that musk seems to get from the media and many people in forums.

Keep in mind as well, even though infrequent storms will affect your satellite internet far more often.

 

[tshephard]

Why are they visible?
Real purpose?
Does light emitted serve comms, or advertising?

 

[ripcord]

The reason they are so visible is because they are in a really low orbit. The low orbit serves to reduce the amount of time it takes for the signal to travel from ground to satellite to ground again.

I'm looking forward to being able mount one of these on my camper so I can work extra-remotely. No one comes into the office any more, so who cares if I'm remoting in from home, or the Colorado Rockies?

 

[alarmguy]

The reason they are so visible is because they are in a really low orbit. The low orbit serves to reduce the amount of time it takes for the signal to travel from ground to satellite to ground again.

I'm looking forward to being able mount one of these on my camper so I can work extra-remotely. No one comes into the office any more, so who cares if I'm remoting in from home, or the Colorado Rockies?

Purpose for you sounds good, however the reality isnt "there" yet. Its still just a fantasy that it will work.

 

[ripcord]

Purpose for you sounds good, however the reality isnt "there" yet. Its still just a fantasy that it will work.

The Starlink program is in beta right now with quite a few subscriptions sold already. Reports I've seen say that people are getting speeds approaching a half a gigabit down. For now, you are supposed to only use the system from a static location (like your home address) but they announced a few months ago that a mobile option is in the works.

The biggest impediment for my envisioned use is the relatively high power consumption of the receiver unit. I would need to add several solar panels and a big battery bank if I didn't want to run the generator all the time.

 

[PandaBear]

Seems a bit nuts to have to pollute the night sky to have reasonable competition in internet service. We can't do this with terrestrial tech?

We can if we don't have monopoly. 5G would be a better alternative than Starlink for internet but from what I heard if you want low latency or international access bypassing local laws and spotty access, satellite is the only way to go.

I wish we don't have Cable / DSL internet monopoly in the US, and have to wait till fixed location 5G to break that monopoly. We ask for it ourselves and get what we deserved (expensive internet and phone services to the cartel). We want to break the monopoly we need some disruption from outsiders.

Be careful what you wish for, without these outsiders you will still be paying 10c per minute long distance phone call from the 80s.

 

[wings&wheels]

They are pretty cool....first time I saw them I was on a night walk in the neighborhood and had absolutely no idea what they were. One or two, then a string, then a few stragglers. Not having any idea what they were, I remember thinking that if they are a 'meteorites' and one lands and a threaded plug starts to unscrew....RUN! Oh c'mon, who knows what classic sci fi movie I'm referring to

 

[PandaBear]

Purpose for you sounds good, however the reality isnt "there" yet. Its still just a fantasy that it will work.

Hard to say, for US only it may not be worth it.

Imagine if you are in China and you can use these things at home to bypass the local internet censorship, or in India, Cuba, Argentina, and get a cheap price. There are a lot of people wanting to pay for it and it could be the same cost no matter you have just US or international market.

The market of cell phone has come a long way since the analog age, right?

 

[alarmguy]

Hard to say, for US only it may not be worth it.

Imagine if you are in China and you can use these things at home to bypass the local internet censorship, or in India, Cuba, Argentina, and get a cheap price. There are a lot of people wanting to pay for it and it could be the same cost no matter you have just US or international market.

The market of cell phone has come a long way since the analog age, right?

I agree, $100 a month for data is not cheap, you have TMobile offering internet for $60, local companies offering it for $50 and big companies offering it for up to $80, total cost includes taxes and most always equipment. All of them over 100 Mbps. Of them all satellite will be the most weather dependent.
Time will tell but if you have none of the mentioned options, satellite is the only answer, with that said we are talking a small, very small part of the population, others will have many choices, choose is good. I think the cell companies are going to give everyone a run for their money.

As far as "market of cell phone" not sure what you mean? Home internet has come a long way and been around longer.