Draconis NeurocamMar 6
Phil Plait

Elon Musk has already started plans to launch a million satellites.

Yes. A MILLION.

This is a colossally bad idea, and it's not too late to make your voice heard. I explain everything:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/rampant-growth-of-satellite-mega-constellations-could-ruin-the-night-sky/

Rampant growth of satellite mega constellations could ruin the night sky

Satellites are wonders of modern technology that have improved all of our lives. But having more than a million of them in orbit could destroy our view of the heavens and seriously damage our planet

Scientific American
Mar 6 at 4:05pmWeb
Show threadDavid ChasteenMar 6
@badastro hey, Phil! Nice to see you on here.
Show threadAvacadoAvengerMar 6
@badastro I love my starlink and its a badly needed technology but there needs to be some limitations on constellation sizes and orbital paths.
Show threadDr. Juande Santander-VelaMar 6
@AvacadoAvenger @badastro it’s not a badly needed technology. What it is insane is that as a society we’ve made it cheaper to launch satellites to provide coverage rather than build 5G cellular capacity and/or fiber broadband…
Show threadAvacadoAvengerMar 6
@juandesant @badastro I'm going to argue with you that we need the ability to communicate on this planet. I live in a vast nation that has huge gaps in coverage that only a satellite constellation can address. We made nothing cheaper. Elon Musk did.
Show threadJulesceltMar 6

@AvacadoAvenger @juandesant @badastro I live in Colorado and in the mountains it is difficult to get coverage. Except there is satellite coverage in nearly 100% of those areas. Those satellites already exist.

In the 1990s I was using GPS to map vegetation in my job, rarely did I not get at least one satellite.

Coverage is dependent on orbital routes of the satellites, not the number of them.

Show threadChristian PraetoriusMar 6
@badastro Kessler syndrome incoming.
Show threadChristo. London, EnglandMar 6
@badastro
He will destroy the ozone layer and make the study of space impossible.
Show threadCrazyDogLadySezPEACEMar 6
@badastro COLOSSAL waste of resources.
Show threadTobias 🌒🌕🌘Mar 6

@badastro STUPID. FUCKING. PLAN. ELON.

If anyone knows how to etch or tattoo these words directly onto his eyeballs, could you make it happen, please?

Show threadAphrodite (recharging)Mar 6

@badastro

How realistic is his bluster?

A million satellites would require how many launches? How much material? How much precision hardware?

This, imho, is just another time the biggest bullshitter in the corporate space is bullshitting to drive hype and get access journos to mindlessly repeat what he makes come out of his mouth hole.

Show threadAlex P. 👹Mar 6
@Aphrodite @badastro
even as bullshit and bluster, it's a way to plow under regulation and just claim the whole space (which, in this case, *is* space) for arbitrary exploitation
Show threadAl & Val's Modern HomesteadingMar 6
@badastro Can we just send HIM into space? Maybe sit him in his space tesla...
Show threadMinna N.Mar 6
@alandvalonline @badastro I can chip in to this idea.
Show threadSusanne LilithMar 6
@badastro Könnte auch eine Plan vom Rest der Galaxis sein, uns hier festzuhalten. Wir kommen dann einfach nicht mehr raus, weil keine Lücke mehr da.
Show thread🇺🇦 haxadecimal 🚫👑Mar 6
@badastro
There goes the neighborhood.
Show threadMinna N.Mar 6
@badastro I frown to the idea that one man is going to do so much damage to our environment. Well, for sure these million satellites disappear to space ... but even if you can do it, it doesnt mean you should. We are ruining Earth as we speak so now he wants to shit all over cosmos as well.
Show threadgokayburucMar 6
@badastro So what will happen to those satellites after their service life expires?Will space debris form around the Earth?
Show threadhollow-oneMar 6
@badastro that’s ok, as long as somebody else had a tech to shut them down at scale. i think to some forces that’s natural ambition to consider. Otherwise it will be fun night time sky to observe them all coliding one day
Show threadAlexTECPlayzMar 6
@hollowone @badastro ...until those collisions cause hundreds of thousands, to millions of untrackable little objects and debris that puts every other satellite and space station at risk.
Show threadhollow-oneMar 6
@alextecplayz @badastro well, we’re doomed to die on this planet anyway…
Show threadMy camera shoots fascistsMar 7

@alextecplayz @hollowone @badastro

But just think of the nonstop meteor showers we'll get to watch! (sarcastic)

Show threadTilda Moose, citizenMar 6
@badastro
Will someone disempower this motherfucking bastard please
Show threadNuwagaba GiftMar 6
@badastro
If the voice is heard, will it change anything?
Show threadKierkethumbs up convincinglyMar 6
@badastro has he actually spent money or resources on it or is it his usual investor fraud in time for the space x ipo?
Show threadRaphaelBMar 6
@badastro , wow elon is a melon, a melon dusk.
Show threadTinamariausaMar 6
@badastro
Show threadToni AittoniemiMar 6

@badastro But AGI will fix it, and there will be abundance, and those future people not yet born will be mad at you for stopping him!!

… or some other bullshit reason like that

Show threadAndyMar 6
@badastro Surely this photo’s wrong? I assume all his satellites would be on the far-right?
Show threadPink! Polonium!Mar 6

@badastro I’m so tired of making fun of the nonexistent brilliance Elon has built his whole personal brand around, so i’ll skip to the ask (for 🇺🇸️ans):

👉️ TODAY is the last day ‼️ to submit a public comment to the #FCC about spacex’s megaconstellation.

👉️ MONDAY is the last day to comment on the #ReflectOrbital filing.

The SciAm article has links and instructions. The more of us who speak up, the harder it is to ignore.

Show threadsoftproofMar 6
@badastro Moreover, he's actually been at it for quite a wee while (Starlink project). But it's never too late to ask, "why?"
The stock answer would be, "To help people connect (in the wilderness)." Good night, and good luck!
Show thread1420 mhzMar 6
@badastro
Yup, great sky for trying to detect visual or optical spectrum asteroids!
Show threadSellaTheChemistMar 6
@badastro Why only a million??
Show threadMineEyesDazzleMar 6
@badastro Commented for today. Will do for Reflect by Monday!
Show threadOldmeanroyMar 6
@badastro can we send him up on one of them?
Show threadmarabilles, smala libreMar 6
@badastro
I hate him so much for ruining our sky !!! 😖
Show threadgrrl_aexMar 6

@badastro

Raise your hands if you, too, are sick and tired of billionaires further enriching themselves with suspect technologies at the earth's (and humanity's) environmental and ecological expense.

Now put your hand down and write an email!!

Details here:

https://aas.org/action-alert-provide-input-fcc-proposed-satellite-systems

archive link to OP's article (no paywall):

https://archive.is/O7hCe

Show threadAknorals⚑Ⓐ 🏴Mar 7
@badastro Kessler syndrome speedrun.
Show threadJohnnieMacMar 7
@badastro why the concern? I’m sure they post a reclamation bond for EACH satellite put in orbit to be returned when it is safely decommissioned, right? right…
Show threadJaime RobertsonMar 7

@badastro Someone needs to do a filk for Musk, “I am changing my name to Kessler”, based on Tom Paxton’s I am changing my name to Chrysler.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9qYGARxGu4

I Am Changing My Name To "Chrysler" (Live / 1988)

YouTube
Show threadRandom Damage 🌻Mar 7

@badastro

Kessler syndrome my old friend,
I've come to dance with you again
Too many satellites streaming
Over this ground where I'm dreaming

And collisions,
that make them multiply
Up in the sky

Creating Kessler syndrome

Show threadthick but spreadable Mar 7
@badastro I thought he wanted to go to Mars? Because this looks like a recipe for trapping humanity on Earth behind a field of deadly space debris
Show threadNazoMar 7
@superviviansunshine @badastro I think he got bored with that and decided he wanted to wreck Earth first, *then* when it's no longer livable for humanity he'll plan on going to Mars. (Yeah, no, he probably just has a bunker or something and doesn't realize without humanity around to kick in the gut he would go completely insane and bounce off the walls.)
Show threadMy camera shoots fascistsMar 7

@badastro

This is probably another textbook case of induced demand: even if this data-center-in-space fantasy were to work, it would not displace ground-based data centers. It would just supplement them.

So, we'd destroy the sky AND pollute the atmosphere, dry up aquifers and burn up the planet just so CEOs could fire everyone and replace them with slop generating machines and incels could finally have girlfriends.

I sent in a comment to the FCC as a private citizen and an amateur astrophotographer. And it reminded me to go out and shoot a lot of photos of the night sky in the next year to build up a more extensive archive... while I still can.

Show threadMichael StephensonMar 7
@badastro will he also fund a cleanup force that will gather and deorbit/recycle the defunct satellites? Probably not 😑
Show threadNina Felwitch Mar 7
@badastro
Show threadScott D. Strader 😐Mar 7

@badastro

1st of all to people who say "bUt SpAcE iS sO bIg AnD sAtElLiTeS aRe SmAlL". stfu. "with 500k in orbit, at least one would contaminate every observation taken by Hubble."

2nd: "These satellites will fail after a few years and will need to be replaced. In the end, upkeep for this notional million-satellite mega constellation could take on the order of 10 Starship launches per day, forever. A single Starship launch emits 76,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent"

3rd: Kessler

Show threadGracchus ☕️🏴‍☠️🇺🇳🇺🇦🦘Mar 10
A bit of tweaking and he could deny space to others, a few star links strategically overhead of a rocket launch? Satellite catapult on the moon to rain down kinetic space missiles?
Show threadPhiliphoboMar 10
@badastro Elon Musk really seems to have a need to become the real world James Bond/Ethan Hunt/Luke Skywalker - supervillain.