• Zron@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    This is false advertising.

    Starlink was the first company and product designed to intentionally increase space junk.

    Although not needing to provide and internet connection does mean FragSat is a cheaper and more superior product.

      • Zron@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Flirting with Kessler syndrome so you can land trick shots in Fortnight.

        The only benefit starlink has over transitional satellite internet is relatively low latency, you could have gotten a different satellite provider.

        Just because there hasn’t been a collision yet, doesn’t mean there won’t be. And there has been measurable damage to ground based telescope observations due to the constant stream of starlink sats overhead.

        • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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          8 months ago

          There are plenty of reasons to criticize Starlink. Kessler syndrome isn’t one. All of the satellites are in such low orbits that they will decay relatively quickly without maintanance. As long as they have fuel they can move out of the way, and when they don’t they will burn up in the atmosphere.

          Them ruining astronomy sucks. Them fucking with Ukraine suck. A lot of other things they’re doing sucks. They aren’t actually polluting orbits in any reasonable interpretation though.

    • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      Launch a constellation of satellites that provide fibre optic levels of Internet service and cell signal anywhere on the globe.

      Zron : nyeeh! Space junk! Elongated Muskrat!

      You’re utterly cooked, buddy.

        • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
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          8 months ago

          Are we doing the “everything I don’t like is Hitler” thing now?

          I don’t like the guy either, but let’s judge the technology on it’s own merits, shall we?

          • exocrinous@startrek.website
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            8 months ago

            The guy used Xitter, a platform he owns, to promote a transphobic documentary made by Matt Walsh. Matt Walsh’s Xitter bio famously begins with the words “theocratic fascist”, or, y’know, Nazi. If Xitter has been used to push anti-trans propaganda made by Nazis, who says Starlink won’t? I don’t think Musk gives a xit about net neutrality.

          • Facebones@reddthat.com
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            8 months ago

            Are we doing the “I defend nazis but try to falsify my stance by pretending to not like them” thing now?

            Guy bought a platform to elevate nazi speech among other forms of hate, and uses his position to elevate it while banning those who speak against said speech. If it walks like a duck, looks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck - you don’t need a 5 page thesis and notarized notice of allegiance to the third reich to tell its a duck. 🤷

      • Zron@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Several things can be true at the same time.

        Starlink exists to give SpaceX nongovernment launches to boost its numbers and make it look good as a stock.

        It also happens to provide a service at what is almost certainly a loss, considering each satellite only lasts a few years and thus requires a constant stream of replacements to be launched.

        It also happens to fill the sky with a bunch of garbage that will inevitably hit something and lead to a spray of even more garbage.

        • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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          8 months ago

          It also happens to provide a service at what is almost certainly a loss, considering each satellite only lasts a few years and thus requires a constant stream of replacements to be launched.

          OK, so you do get they’re in decaying orbits. Good.

          It also happens to fill the sky with a bunch of garbage that will inevitably hit something and lead to a spray of even more garbage.

          What garbage? You just said they decay. Be consistent. There’s plenty of reason to not like them. Kessler syndrome isn’t one.

          • Saledovil@sh.itjust.works
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            8 months ago

            What garbage? You just said they decay. Be consistent. There’s plenty of reason to not like them. Kessler syndrome isn’t one.

            All that needs to happen is that 2 Starlink satellites collide, and then the debris won’t stay at the same elevation. It will still be on a decaying orbit, but it might hit something on a more stable orbit further up before it comes down. And the debris from the second collision won’t come down to earth anytime soon.

            • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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              8 months ago

              Sure, if a collision happens (unlikely while under control) then another collision happens (also unlikely, space is big) then sure some debris could go into a non-decaying orbit. That’s true for all satellites. Should we just not launch any because it could make things harder for other satellites?

              Starlink is very unlikely to cause debris, and any debris it may cause, if any happens at all, is unlikely to cause any future problems because odds are it’d decay even faster. In the unlikely event everything goes wrong, it could cause minor issues, the same as any satellite.

        • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
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          8 months ago

          Pretty much every service in the tech industry runs at a loss for a long time, that’s nothing special.

    • casual_turtle_stew_enjoyer@sh.itjust.works
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      8 months ago

      Russian-American de-escalation line transcript from Dec 14th 2024:

      Saltzman: Dmitry, care to enlighten me as to why exactly Roscosmos felt the need to launch a Soyuz with nothing but depleted uranium marbles on board?

      Rogozin: Scy-eence

      Saltzman: OK, and why the second one?

      Rogozin: Ree-plecibility

      Saltzman: …

      Rogozin: Vhat? I dought you like spacebolls

  • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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    8 months ago

    Honestly you could do a ton of damage if you were to just yeet a metric ton or so of sand and gravel into LEO and released it in an exciting fashion

    • Mycatiskai@lemmy.ca
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      8 months ago

      That sounds like a good way to find a spaceship full of dead astronauts with very glittery lungs.

  • Gork@lemm.ee
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    8 months ago

    Kessler Syndrome is Bestler Syndrome.

    Except for the Space Force, that is.

  • Etterra@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    To be fair, something like this bud scaled up would be the only realistic way to try and fight off a hypothetical extraterrestrial invasion. Once I saw it suggested we could mass-deploy Thunder Wells to fill an orbital window with a cloud of giant steel shrapnel.

    A Thunder Well is literally a bore hole with a nuke in it, and a huge steel plate on top. It was done originally as and experiment and they never did find that fucking plate; it might have been vaporized, but that’s nothing a little redesign couldn’t fix.

    Wikipedia article

  • ColeSloth
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    8 months ago

    Steel balls touching each other would cold weld themselves into a clump if all touching like that. They’re going to need a couple design changes.

  • FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
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    8 months ago

    Imagine if this was how we tricked capitalists and climate deniers into launching the UV Broad Spectrum Light shielding bubbles that expand in low pressure. Classic rugpull moment.