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1. LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw48a1@nu.federati.net)'s status on Thursday, 01-Dec-2022 04:38:12 UTC LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}

   • GNU Too
   @gnu2
   
   > who gets to say who uses what portion of space?
   
   Most major spacefaring nations have an agency that decides what can go into space from areas and organizations under their control. Without a referee, satellites will collide more often, and the resulting space-junk will collide with even more satellites.
   
   > the whole point of starlink is low Earth orbit
   
   And the problem with that is that there are limits to what can be put there without interfering with other uses. Other nations (and astronomers!) are already unhappy with the size of Starlink's constellation of low-earth satellites. They will *really* be unhappy if the US allows them to put 30K satellites there.
   • LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw48a1@nu.federati.net)'s status on Thursday, 01-Dec-2022 01:47:54 UTC LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}
     #SpaceX's #Starlink service suffers network congestion, falling speeds in US and Canada. https://nu.federati.net/url/288713 [www pcmag com]
   • LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw48a1@nu.federati.net)'s status on Thursday, 01-Dec-2022 02:26:28 UTC LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}

     in reply to
     Their plan to fix the congestion and slowness involves launching 30,000 satellites, which IMO, is too many for any one country to approve. Space belongs to all of us, and we should not allow one country or one company to consume every possible orbital "slot".
     
     Maybe they should boost their satellites into a higher orbit, so they won't need as many ... which comes with its own problem: latency. And maybe they should look into something like Google / Alphabet's Project Loon. https://x.company/projects/loon/
   • LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw48a1@nu.federati.net)'s status on Thursday, 01-Dec-2022 02:37:37 UTC LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}

     in reply to
     I like that they distributed many of the patents when they wound down the project, and that they signed a non-assertion pledge for many others. Hopefully, someone will utilize this knowledge to create a viable ISP for unserved and underserved low-income areas of the planet.
     Also: https://x.company/projects/taara/ is a great thing. Congrats to Alphabet / Google.
   • LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw48a1@nu.federati.net)'s status on Thursday, 01-Dec-2022 04:46:18 UTC LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}

     in reply to

     • GNU Too
     @gnu2 This is what economists would call an externality. Some of the costs of having those satellites in LEO isn't borne by #StarLink / #SpaceX, but by competitors, by the non-profit research organizations and government agencies who conduct astronomy, and lastly by people in general around the world. By spreading those costs out that way, it makes it harder to successfully pursue an objection, but we all suffer for it.
     
     An analogy would be putting up a giant factory with giant coal-fired boilers belching thick black smoke into the air. It costs the company nothing once the smoke is released, but the surrounding communities and those that are downwind certainly will pay for those smoke stacks.
     
     So, no. I do not support letting anyone put whatever quantity of satellites they want into low-earth orbit. Put in something similar to the Project Loon balloons (which were able to keep themselves over an assigned area) or launch fewer satellites and put them in higher orbits where they can cover larger areas at once.