Prof. Sam LawlerJun 3

Updating talk slides so you all get to be horrified along with me at the current Starlink numbers.

There are now 7,652 Starlink satellites in orbit (>500 more than there were in February, when I last updated these particular slides).

2-3 Starlinks per day are burning up in the atmosphere. That's a lot of weird metal in the atmosphere (and undoubtedly lots of random bits getting to the ground too).

Starlink is a stupidly wasteful and dangerous way to use orbit.

Show threadProf. Sam Lawler
And before you explain to me that there's 50 tons of meteoroids burning up in Earth's atmosphere every day, remember that meteoroids mostly rocks, not metal, and have an extremely low fraction of aluminum (~0.3 tons aluminum "naturally" burning up per day). Satellites are ~50% aluminum by mass, and Starlink satellites are several hundred kg to ~1200 kg in mass. Yes, it's bad.
Jun 3 at 6:15pmWeb
Show threadProf. Sam LawlerJun 3

Satellite numbers from https://planet4589.org/space/con/conlist.html and https://celestrak.org/NORAD/elements/table.php?GROUP=active&FORMAT=tle

Meteorite aluminum mass fraction from https://arxiv.org/pdf/1010.2746

Satellite mass fraction is totally guesswork because SpaceX doesn't share any useful information publicly ever.

Jonathan's Space Report | Space Statistics

Jonathan McDowell's new homepage

Show threadProf. Sam LawlerJun 3
Now that I've gotten myself nice and grumpy about Starlink, it's time to go talk to kids at an elementary school, and try not to be too horrifying...
Show threadLauren WeinsteinJun 3
@sundogplanets The 21st century "drop drill" -- not covering up from a nuclear explosion, but avoiding being hit by pieces of Starlink birds.
Show threadJeffreySmith 🌻🍉🇨🇦Jun 3

@sundogplanets

Just don't tell them their bicycle helmets can do double duty protecting against starlink debris. 😁

Show threadRaphael DürscheidJun 4
@sundogplanets
Ahh, they are for #geoengineering, not communication.
Show threadKoboldJun 3
@sundogplanets 50 tons of meteoroids every day? I never thought about it tbh, but this is a number I would never have guessed.
Show threadMichael BuschJun 3

@kobold

It depends a bit on when one measures; but that's about right - nearly all as millimeter-scale grains.

Which, as @sundogplanets wrote, are less of a problem per unit mass than the Starlinks are: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2024GL109280 .

Show threadKoboldJun 3

@michael_w_busch @sundogplanets I was just blown away by the sheer amount of material burning up within earth's atmosphere.

No challenge to #starlink being prototypical #musk

Show threadTirrimas  🚫👑Jun 3
@kobold @michael_w_busch @sundogplanets we owe a lot to our atmosphere
Show threadlizzzzardJun 3
@kobold @sundogplanets same here.
Show threadCome On Giant Asteroid!Jun 3

@sundogplanets

That, and meteorites have been burning up in the atmosphere since, approximately, for ever - SpaceTwitter's StarJunk has only been raining down for what? 10 years? That long? No, not the first satellites, obvs, but the first stupidly big constellation.

Show threadcitcJun 3
@Prof. Sam Lawler

Until that aluminium is implicated in some sort of detrimental health impact (a la' DDT, ozone layer, etc.), doubtful anything will be done
Show threadProf. Sam LawlerJun 3
@citc It likely does deplete ozone.
Show threadBruce HeerssenJun 4

@sundogplanets @citc

Have there been any studies on this? Are any being done now? That you know of off hand, of course. I'm not asking you to look anything up.

Show threadProf. Sam LawlerJun 4
@bruce @citc https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2024GL109280
Show threadBruce HeerssenJun 4

@sundogplanets @citc

Thanks so much!

Show threadhelpsterTeeJun 3
@sundogplanets https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10139039/

"Despite poor absorption via mucosa, the biggest amount of Al comes with food, drinking water, and inhalation."

Yeah…we need environmental studies now regarding this…
Aluminium in the Human Brain: Routes of Penetration, Toxicity, and Resulting Complications

Aluminium (Al) is the most ubiquitous metal in the Earth’s crust. Even though its toxicity is well-documented, the role of Al in the pathogenesis of several neurological diseases remains debatable. To establish the basic framework for future ...

PubMed Central (PMC)
Show threadsimonbpJun 3
@sundogplanets The emission spectra from a deorbiting Starlink that someone showed at COSPAR last year was wild. All sorts of wacky heavy metals getting ionized enough to be seen (and probably enough to stick around).
Show threadElon Muksis 🇺🇦 🇪🇺Jun 3
@sundogplanets It's only a matter of time before the Starship explodes in orbit and destroys the satellites.
Show threadFan of Shared Truth & EmpathyJun 3

@sundogplanets I’m old enough to remember when people sprayed Aluminum in deodorant propelled out of cans using chlorofluorocarbons which helped punch a hole in our ozone layer ruining it’s ability to shield humans from radiation that could eventually kill them.

Seems humanity won’t be fixing the problems caused by our wealthiest who now call all the shots for ever more profit - life on earth in the future be damned.

Show thread𝓐𝓷𝓭𝔂𝓣𝓲𝓮𝓭𝔂𝓮 𓀤Jun 4

Launching stuff into space is EXPENSIVE.
Better to reuse what is already up there.

They should collect them, refurbish them, and reorbit them.

@sundogplanets

Show threadFight Fascism #RESISTJun 4
@sundogplanets
Starlink/SpaceX needs to be nationalized
Show thread🟥 Eveline Sulman 🇳🇱🇪🇺🇺🇦Jun 4
@Yogiomm @sundogplanets that wouldn't make any difference with this government...
Show threadVon XylofonJun 4
@Yogiomm @sundogplanets To be run by whom, exactly? The stable genius?
Show threadOpen RiskJun 5

@Yogiomm @sundogplanets

In a world that nation states can go rogue but existential problems are global we need the (currently non-existing option) of something becoming *internationalized*, namely being operated for the common good, irrespective of national borders.

If it sounds quaint its because the notion of national state being the only legitimate expression of governance has been burned into our collective nous. But its a mere social convention reflecting a certain era.

Show threadKoljaJun 10
@sundogplanets Not disagreeing but trying to steelman here: is 3 satellites * 1.2 t * 50% aluminum = 1.8 t „just“ six times as much, ie. the same order of magnitude as the meteoroids? Really don’t want to downplay it, and there are still a lot of damaging related effects, but are the Starlink satellites really the important thing to focus on here?
Show threadProf. Sam LawlerJun 10
@kolja At full capacity they'll burn up 23 per day
Show threadKolja1h ago

@sundogplanets Yeah, OK, that's at least uncharted territory. Seeing how we're not even able to work against bigger and easier to calculate problems, I fear that's just not bad enough.

To be clear, I'm fully on your side of the argument. But I have a harder time explaining these risks than even climate change, so that I almost wish it was ten times more aluminum…