You’d only be able to connect to the Deep Net.
You know those blacker than black pigments that were made? I wonder if they could coat the starlink satellites in something like that (except the solar cells of course), to cut down on the reflections they cast. And maybe they could have the solar cells point 180* away from Earth when they hit sundown.
Sometimes I wonder if Musk’s extravagant and grandiose ideas are just his way of ripping off the rich and gullible.
These pigments may cause the satellites to overheat. Generally in Space you’re fighting desperately to get rid of as much heat as possible.
I think Elon Musk is exactly the kind of visionary we need right now. He seems driven more by ideas than pure profit and greed.
I guess its fashionable to be sceptical but he has already accomplished a lot of great things that should benefit us all, and his research into batteries could be very fruitful for humanity.
I don’t think they’re meant to cover the entire globe. I think orbiting near the poles is tricky.
If this can drive down prices in the US I’m all for it.
Then why does he fight to keep his employees from unionizing?
I don’t know? Maybe he feels he gives better options for his employees than if they were in a union?
I still think his inventions are pretty good so far.
I don’t think anyone disputes Musk’s genius in terms of stuff and concepts. Execution is more problematic, but that’s to be expected. Ethics? That’s a matter for individuals to ponder according to their own sense of things I suppose. Musk always struck me as sort of an ass, but that too seems par for the course for entrepreneurs and visionaries, and doesn’t really matter that much in the grand scheme of things I suppose.
This satellite thing though seems to pose some interesting questions. One is the sheer volume of objects in orbit. Another is the complexity and reliability of the entire system and its up and down links. And I do wonder how the military (and those of other nations) are thinking about this. As various parts of near-earth space get occupied, it has to impact military use of space I would think.
Musk isnt the only one pursuing this.
At least we’ll still have Van Gogh’s painting to remember the starry nights.
Just think of them as shooting stars you can wish against again and again every night. So many wishes!
Starlink is getting built as we sleep. Two launches. Each month.
SpaceX on Monday launched a pallet of 60 freshly redesigned Starlink satellites on Monday — adding to 120 experimental spacecraft already in orbit — and plans to pull off similar launches every two weeks.
(corrected statement, not two launches each week)
Isn’t that a launch every other week?
Only about 300 launches to go!
Supposedly, it’s going to be ready to use before they get the whole thing up though.
Starlink guy from article:
“We need 24 launches to get global coverage,” Shotwell said. “Every launch after that gives you more capacity.” SpaceX previously said it could make 24 Starlink launches in 2020.
And…
In May, prior to the filing, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said that Starlink will have consistent partial coverage with 400 satellites, and should be “economically viable” at 1,000 satellites.
I remember something about placement of satellites so that early on maybe North America has good coverage while other places not so much. So it’s not necessarily going to be “even”.
Oops, yes, that’s correct.
Though I have a few doubts about this concept in general, I believe Elon Musk is crazy enough to actually launch thousands of low-earth orbit satellites.
But I think he is being extremely aggressive with his timetable, just like he’s been with everything else he’s done.
I hope it works out though. Ubiquitous, low-cost, low-latency, high-speed internet access could change the world.