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It was quite a big train this time!
Not a constellation as such as they are the satellites which have just been launched (60 at a time) that are then slowly distributing themselves to their final orbital position.
The trains are usually noticeable for a few days after launch before they separate out so much that you can't really appreciate them any more.
There is a great app called Heavens-Above which uses augmented reality to help you identify satellites passing over!
While the trains of 60 satellites is pretty cool to see, my general feeling on starlink is that Elon Musk is just launching a hell of a lot of space junk into Low Earth Orbit which nobody really needs or will use and causes a massive headache for other launches into an already overcrowded sky!
I have some serious reservations about these StarLink satellites from Elon Musk (SpaceX) - he's launching 42,000(!!) of them into LEO (low earth orbit) to allow a grid coverage of the entire sky all around the globe - to give internet access to under resourced areas of the globe.... so in a couple of years time (he has to get at least 50% of them up in the next 2 yrs to comply with Licensing regs) the whole night sky will be crawling with these things.... he's launching 60 at a time, every 2 weeks - and who gave him the permission to radically alter the night sky for every person on the planet? - answer the FCC (Federal Communications Commision) - i.e the USA - do they have the right to alter the night sky for ever, over the UK?, Over Africa, Over Australia?
Were we consulted in anyway? I can see a HUGE backlash coming for this project once people actually start realising the impact these things are going to have worldwide.
Seems very very distopian to me, and capitalism at its worst - who's gonna be selling this 'Internet for all' - Elon Musk of course....
A few thoughts, we don't know what effect altering the night sky will have on things we don't fully understand, migration of birds, wildlife who use the use the stars as their 'compass' intuitively.
The Astronomy peeps are absolutely up in arms about it, as it affects all earth bound telescopes badly - they will have sat tracks across all their images.
Richard Branson's Virgin Group seeing the obvious monopoly on the 'sky internet' has launched his own counter bid - OneWeb (with other partners) - already have 34 sats in space, with a plan to launch another 648, again to offer internet services to remote parts of the world.
Amazon (seen as the biggest rival) plans their Project Kuiper to launch 3,236 sats
I would counter that the UK isn't a remote part of the world and doesn't need several thousand sats crossing our night sky, and I imagine quite a few other countries will say the same...
Is our night sky now doomed? and who regulates it globally (because at the moment it seems no-one does)...
I have some serious reservations about these StarLink satellites from Elon Musk (SpaceX) - he's launching 42,000(!!) of them into LEO (low earth orbit) to allow a grid coverage of the entire sky all around the globe - to give internet access to under resourced areas of the globe.... so in a couple of years time (he has to get at least 50% of them up in the next 2 yrs to comply with Licensing regs) the whole night sky will be crawling with these things.... he's launching 60 at a time, every 2 weeks - and who gave him the permission to radically alter the night sky for every person on the planet? - answer the FCC (Federal Communications Commision) - i.e the USA - do they have the right to alter the night sky for ever, over the UK?, Over Africa, Over Australia?
Were we consulted in anyway? I can see a HUGE backlash coming for this project once people actually start realising the impact these things are going to have worldwide.
Seems very very distopian to me, and capitalism at its worst - who's gonna be selling this 'Internet for all' - Elon Musk of course....
A few thoughts, we don't know what effect altering the night sky will have on things we don't fully understand, migration of birds, wildlife who use the use the stars as their 'compass' intuitively.
The Astronomy peeps are absolutely up in arms about it, as it affects all earth bound telescopes badly - they will have sat tracks across all their images.
Richard Branson's Virgin Group seeing the obvious monopoly on the 'sky internet' has launched his own counter bid - OneWeb (with other partners) - already have 34 sats in space, with a plan to launch another 648, again to offer internet services to remote parts of the world.
Amazon (seen as the biggest rival) plans their Project Kuiper to launch 3,236 sats
I would counter that the UK isn't a remote part of the world and doesn't need several thousand sats crossing our night sky, and I imagine quite a few other countries will say the same...
Is our night sky now doomed? and who regulates it globally (because at the moment it seems no-one does)...
OneWeb has now gone bankrupt and is unlikely to happen.
There are also a number of others trying to do the same.
I don't really see there is a market for this. In most places with demand for internet, there is internet. A Satellite solution will never be cheap enough to capture the mass market and there will never be enough customers needing it in remote areas who can also cover the cost if the number of customers in relatively low. When you add several competing services, I really can't see how any of them can make enough money to survive!
Regardless of cluttering the skies, it's simply a bad business idea!
I'm with Dr Hu on this one; it's going to ruin land based observatories. And surely there's enough internet access without being in the middle of nowhere with some **** pulling his iPad out. And Musk is busy saving the planet with batteries and EV's, whilst blasting rockets off and planning to destroy Mars. Fecking pedo guy.
20 April 2020, 09:01 PM
Starlink satellites visible in the UK tonight (20th April 2020)
