this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2023
156 points (100.0% liked)
TechTakes
1656 readers
327 users here now
Big brain tech dude got yet another clueless take over at HackerNews etc? Here's the place to vent. Orange site, VC foolishness, all welcome.
This is not debate club. Unless it’s amusing debate.
For actually-good tech, you want our NotAwfulTech community
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
@swlabr @wagesj45
Can't go to Mars if your massive satellite constellation (plus competitors) results in enough space junk to make reaching orbit difficult.
Starlink causing a Kessler event and grounding all spaceflight would be delicious irony, but I believe their orbits are too low for this to be a problem. Instead they just annoy astronomers and Russians.
@gerikson
On the other hand, Kessler wrote: "Some of the most environmentally dangerous activities in space include large constellations such as those initially proposed by the Strategic Defense Initiative in the mid-1980s"
SDI's Brilliant Pebbles originally proposed a 10,000 unit LEO constellation.
Starlink is already close to 5,000, and Musk wants 30,000. Add in the Chinese effort estimated at ~13,000. OneWeb has 500-600 up there.
@gerikson
Even if it doesn't rapidly degenerate into a full-blown Kessler Event, I'd have to think there'd be enough going on there to increase uncertainty and risk.