SpaceX launched 52 more Starlink satellites to orbit on Saturday | Hacker News Reader

SpaceX launched 52 more Starlink satellites to orbit on Saturday

techcrunch.com

17 pointsnomoreplease13 comments

It's amazing that this constellation will likely soon beat terrestrial fiber optic cables even in terms of data latency. We can now deploy a planet-wide communication network with minimal human effort compared to the millions of hours of human manual labor required to install the first telegraph and telephone networks.

I wouldn't call building a falcon 9 rocket minimal human effort

Neither was designing a telegraph system, but we're talking about a pretty basic launch cost to deploy, not sending hundreds of laborers to die stringing wires and building railroads across the nation.

Is there a reason why satellites have to emit light?

The sky pollution from these is incredible. We won’t be able to see starry sky soon.

They don't emit light, they are bright when the satellite is sunlit against the night sky.

Could you solve this with some kind of vantablack esque covering? Would that cause heat issues or something?

That is exactly what they have done. It cuts down quite a bit.

give they’re in LEO that should be a really small amount of time right after sunset? Seems like that would not ideal telescope lighting.

I’ve heard astronomers don’t like these sats, but the physics of how it’s so bad doesn’t make sense to me.

Ah i see, thank you. So I guess nothing can be done and we are approaching the end of the starry sky as we know it

Why is this downvoted, it's correct, right? Surely more than one company will have a satellite network, at that. Stars are already gone, to a large extent.

That only applies to dawn and dusk. In the middle of the night satellites don't get illuminated. They can still be a small problem for telescopes then, but you won't notice them with the naked eye.

The solar panels are only reflecting light during the 'moving up to orbit' phase of the launch. After a few weeks the solar panels will be tilted in a different direction, no longer casting bright streaks in the night sky.

The night sky cries tears of light, until the vehicles are promoted to an operational orbit.

Nifty tracker shows the handful of low-orbit (not operational) trains. https://starlink.sx/

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