3871

12,000 satellites. So, fuck ground based astronomy?

3872

The number of existing satellites may be near that number already.

[ed]

Nope.

3873

Most existing satellites are at geosync altitude, which is much farther away and where there is much more volume to fill than the Starlink constellation.

EDIT: Turns out I am wrong:

Satellite quick facts

Includes launches through 3/31/2020

  • Total number of operating satellites: 2,666
    • United States: 1,327
    • Russia: 169
    • China: 363
    • Other: 807
  • LEO: 1,918
  • MEO: 135
  • Elliptical: 59
  • GEO: 554
3874

SpaceX did another Starship hop test, seemed to go well.

3875

I just got my model 3 with full self driving. Man that cars is smart, I donā€™t think even Sarah Connor is enough to save us. I for one welcome our new computer overlords, especially compared to our human overlords.

3876

I wish every car was self-driving. It would cut way down on accidents. In theory.

3877

Pedestrians should be self-driving too.

3878

Once we are all chipped the cars will know where we are and swerve to hit, er, avoid us. Weā€™re ok until Starlink becomes self-aware.

3879

I think no matter how many people self driving cars killed it would be a mere fraction of how many actual human drivers do every year.

But good luck convincing the general public because Muh Freedoms.

3880

I agree. If all cars were self-driving thereā€™d be far fewer car collisions. Itā€™s pedestrians, stray animals, bicyclists and such that would be the primary dangers. It should still vastly reduce accidents.

Of course if anything interrupted GPS and everything on the road was self-driving, that could be bad. I guess they could be programmed to slow and pull over if GPS stops.

3881

ā€œHolding the entire US transportation network to ransomā€ will make a fun sideline for a Bond villain.

3882

Awesome footage here šŸ‘‰

3883

I love the thought of barn silos taking off for orbit. Thanks for posting that.

3884

Space debris? Itā€™ll be fine!
image

And donā€™t forget - Spacelink is only one of the space-based Internet providers coming.

3885

These satellites donā€™t become space debris because once they stop nudging the orbit with active thrust every now and then, they reenter and burn up.

They are too low to stay up forever.

3886

In high school I used to joke that the local grain silos (big ones directly adjacent to railroad tracks) had ICBMs stored inside them!

3887

I think I want to move to Juno

3888

@Clay shared this on Slackā€¦

3889

That is sooo cool.

3890

So Iā€™m hearing murmurs of a significant astronomical discovery. Something hugeā€¦