SpaceX Starlink Satellites Have to Dodge Objects in Orbit Nearly 140 Times Every Day

Unlike Elon Musk, who has never recieved government subsidies or delivered faulty products

Are they truly able though? I'll readily admit I'm not very knowledgeable on this, but radio towers have a limited range, right? Satellites have the ability to provide internet and communications to truly remote areas where it may be logistically challenging or impractical to build radio towers.

Aircraft have to dodge them.

Fun fact, radio towers don't work for shit. I've had 4 cellular routers for the past 5 years, and had a total of maybe 24 hours where they offered better service than Starlink due to weather.

"We have failed as a society to help small communities. Instead of seeing this an choosing to be better, it's OK to let billionaires fuck up space."

Seriously. Small towns and rural communities could have high speed network access already if they stopped voting for people that refuse to fund infrastructure spending and that bend over backwards to prevent community-based initiatives to create high speed networks! Elon's not helping them, he's exploiting the fact that they've backed people who actively keep them in the stone ages.

As well it’s important to develop this technology on our planet for when we become an interplanetary species. Being able to quickly surround a habitable planet with infrastructure that can beam network, position, even power directly down to the surface without interference is hyper critical. EMS will also love this for when natural disasters strike and communication via ground based systems is knocked out. This is ultimately the direction we will be heading in for future points, but making satellites that encompass multiple things. However it’s important that any company, or even government, operating in space should have to pay into some sort of UN fund for cleaning space junk as it is becoming a problem and it’s so easy for companies to launch stuff in space and avoid any consequences when it turns to junk.

It could if the will was there. We’re able to run water & electricity - but we can’t figure out how to run a strand of glass or 1 new piece of copper? It’s called greed, laziness, ineptitude & creative companies & their lawyers which took tax payer money without delivering the services they promised year over year.

The only other option would be to run the infrastructure to them and that’s not gonna happen anytime soon unfortunately

Not because it can't happen though, but because it isn't profitable or beneficial to the right people.
I'm no expert, but I would think running cables (or using existing ones which undoubtedly exist) or whatever other terrestrial solution, would be infinitely easier and cheaper (and less destructive) than networking the entire sky with satellites.

Seems like yet another instance where capitalism has created a problem (not connecting remote places despite being able to because it doesn't make them enough money) only so it can sell us convoluted, overcomplicated and overpriced "solutions" that do make them money (as well as other forms of power and control). E: alternatively (more like and and/or), they needed the military application and used the side effects of it benefiting civilian as a front and a justification. And it's working, people are defending it without question.

The only other option would be to run the infrastructure to them and that’s not gonna happen anytime soon unfortunately.

So we should cause a global sky pollution problem to solve local political problem. How about... No. We don't pollute global shared good and instead USA just has to pull it by it's boots straps and solve it's political administration problems.

Africa, North Europe and so on doesn't have problem with setting up cell networks even for rural areas. Point to point microwave links have been invented to even avoid having to run ground fibre to each cell tower. We have the tech. Thus it isn't a absolutely necessary problem. It is local political problem.

Fix it.... or well suffer lack of internet. USA doesn't get to ignore the external global costs just to make things politically more convenient locally.

Yeah, before Starlink I was paying $150/month for 15 Mbps down, usually getting half of that or less, and it was transmitted via radio so it always stopped working when it rained. It was barely usable, but too important to stop paying for.

Now I pay a little less and get 100-150 Mbps down, and the rain usually doesn't affect it. Latency is better too.

And I'm just 20 minutes from a fairly large city in the US. There are a lot of areas with less service than I had.

Musk can eat shit, and I hate giving him money, but Starlink has made a really big difference.

I get what you're saying but... it's just so hard to accept that we're going with satellites rather than running a fiber optic cable over to your house.

So we're defiling the night sky to... help bored Republicans get on Facebook, Twitter, and 4chan?

Well now I'm really sold on the idea!

100megabit is not the minimum, that's about what I'm on and have the fastest internet out of anyone I know, downloading games in a couple hours and stuff.

People can absolutely live with +16megabits, I did at my parents house for years. 100 would be nice, but in no way necessary.

I only have 22mbit where I live and no available fiber. There's no faster service either. We get by with it, but in a full household, it can certainly cause lots of buffering and bandwidth restrictions. When we worked from home, it could be a problem on occasions. I live in a decently sized community in the southeastern US. There's no excuse for this.

Instant Kessler syndrome!

Bezos has a plan to do the same, but I think his calls for 100,000. Those two will be the destruction of this planet with their stupid one-upmanship.

While I think Musk is an idiot, Starlink before I had fiber ran to me for some ungodly reason was a godsend. Also, space is big. 42000 satellites is still super insignificant in spaceborne objects over the planet. Also their design is so they burn up relatively quickly, and do not hang out in orbit for long, iirc only a couple years and constantly need to burn to maintain altitude. Sure they look like shit in the sky, but having the network like this is great for rural areas where there is no cell phone or internet service. But, the whole thing isn't very sustainable

The fucking moron just want big number, consequences be damn.