FYI: Someone wants to launch mobile broadband satellites into space used by scientific craft – and NASA's not happy A proposed constellation of 243 satellites, designed to beam internet connectivity to smartphones and under consideration by America's comms watchdog, will triple the existing risk of a potential collision with ten Earth science spacecraft in low-Earth orbit, NASA warned. AST & Science, a Texas-based company, has applied for …
Right until it isnt.
It's nigh impossible to get a commercial outfit not to pursue profit on the basis of a potential risk of messing up a finite resource.
We know the risks of starlink, kuiper et al polluting space for what is unnecessary (though sexy) tech. But as long as theres lucre, there's 'progress.
AST & Science have raised $120 million in funding, with which they plan to launch 243 satellites which would be among the largest in orbit. They have no experience in actually building anything at all, but somehow propose to go from nothing to hundreds of horrifically complicated unfolding antennae on the back of some pocket change an investor found down the back of the sofa.
It's a scam. Either an outright funding scam, or just an attempt to look like a tempting buy to some established company that might want some pre-approved satellite licenses.
The FCC has nothing to do with space. It does, however, govern radio signals used in US territory. If you plan on offering radio links to the US, it's therefore a good idea to check that your very expensive satellites will actually be allowed to operate first. Obviously a company that has no intention of broadcasting to US territory has no need to clear things with the FCC first, but since it's one of the biggest markets available and most of these companies are based in the US themselves, it's quite common to want permission to operate there.
Maybe. For as long as the battery lasts. It's going to take considerable handset power to lob a signal up 700 km. The current trend (5G) is to go with smaller cell sizes and less power. I doubt any of the new generation phones will even be equipped with high power levels like my old AMPS phone.
Starlink was obviously a military project from the start and America has recently confirmed this. I am sure that America had decided they had lost the 5G race and this was a way to leapfrog the opposition.
What does surprise me is how quiet Russia, China and all the other countries that might be affected.
Musk wants to put up 42,000 satellites, Amazon 10,000, OneWeb about the same. What if Russia China and others put up equal quantities?
I suppose it would quickly solve the problem when they start to bump into each other and the planet is shrouded by an impenetrable shield of junk metal. No space travel, no radio astronomy, no GPS, the list goes on and on.
I hope you have all held on to your paper maps as you will be needing them soon. I feel sorry for those who have grown up never needing a real map I wonder how they will cope?
"Musk wants to put up 42,000 satellites, Amazon 10,000, OneWeb about the same. What if Russia China and others put up equal quantities?"
Chances of collision will be higher, although there's a famous quote, "Space is big..."
Deorbit mechanism should be built into each satellite. Either through low orbit or a drag mechanism that slows down the satellite when atmospheric particles hit it. The Musk satellites in orbit are also relatively low flying (<550km) and should sink back to earth in a few years.
Russia and China both have orbital debris mitigation guidelines and it is not in their interest either to pollute the orbit since both also have plans for manned missions and such at our solar system.
"I suppose it would quickly solve the problem when they start to bump into each other and the planet is shrouded by an impenetrable shield of junk metal. No space travel, no radio astronomy, no GPS, the list goes on and on."
If it's impenetrable, I'd be more worried about sunlight getting through!
"I feel sorry for those who have grown up never needing a real map I wonder how they will cope?"
The future generations will have a great visual spectacle when earth has its own ring(s)!
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