Once again, I'm reminded of how much the billionaire space race has absolutely destroyed my love of rockets.
10 years ago, I definitely would have been paying close attention to the current giant SpaceX launch. But because I know it's going to be used to launch hundreds of unregulated, unsafe, polluting, for-profit Starlink satellites at once, I just can't look.
Instead of being excited and awestruck by a new gigantic rocket launch, it just makes me want to puke.
@sundogplanets I can read this message in the most remote part of rural Utah because of those satellites.
Instead of not caring about rocket launches at all, now they effect my life in a positive way.
You may not like for profit companies... but not-for-profit companies don't have a super great record of building the best rockets ever created.
Federally funded NASA doesn't even try anymore and hasn't produced anything meaningful in like 60 years.
@realwaaagh @sundogplanets of course a cable is better, for tons of reasons - but there are a lot of places you can't run a cable. You can't run a cable into a national monument, or an indian reservation.
I live in an RV fulltime, often times hundreds of miles away from utilities.
You can't run a cable to a boat.
Also, copper is expensive. I don't think anyone's running cable to rural Ethiopia.
You can knock capitalism all you want, but you can do that wirelessly from flying airplanes.
@realwaaagh @sundogplanets if you’re going somewhere dark enough to actually see the night sky - there is almost certainly no wired internet - or any other buried utilities or phone poles. Those areas are federally protected.
Where there are phone poles there is light pollution. In Alaska, Utah, Maine… there’s dark skies.
You can have dark skies or electricity.
With starlink I can live offgrid on solar power AND have dark skies - which is primarily why I do it.
Prof. Sam Lawler
Luke MacNeil
RealWaaagh