I presented at the local planetary journal club this morning about the 3 articles I co-authored for The Conversation in the past weeks about the effects that one million satellites would have on the night sky, the atmosphere, and the orbital environment (spoiler alert: all very very bad)
And one on light pollution that I thought would get published today but might not be out until after the weekend.
The third article in this (horrible) series of articles I've co-authored is now out. https://theconversation.com/a-million-new-spacex-satellites-will-destroy-the-night-sky-for-everyone-on-earth-277938
A million satellites of the size required for "AI data centers" would mean that everyone in the world would have more visible satellites than stars for most of the night and most of the year.
But don't worry, we'll be in Kessler Syndrome WAY before we get to a million satellites!
RE: https://mastodon.social/@sundogplanets/116152057176915428
I've got a thread here where I more carefully explain the prediction plot, and post a bunch of sky predictions for many latitudes around the world, just to make the point of how incredibly stupid the idea of a million satellites is.
@EricFielding @hllizi @sundogplanets
The figure also imagines magically launching 5,000 Starships per year from a launch pad that keeps having to be rebuilt.
This scam keeps getting more absurd.
Wasn't there something about a need to increase planetary albedo? Is this a help with that? 
@sundogplanets
But do the Optimus robots work?
Will they ever work because they rely only on vision and not 100s of touch sensors and distance measurement sensors?
It all seems like fantasy.
@sundogplanets OMFSM, this is stupid on so many levels? How many Optimus robots to do the work? m(
Edit: typo
Perhaps they filed for permission for 1 million satellites, more so that they would not need to ask for permission again for a long time (no matter the purpose of the satellite), than to actually launch 1 million satellites in the near-to-mid-term.
No matter the goals of the administration, they would be stupid to give that away.
"Data center" satellite. Any satellite with a computer in it.
Plus they are hugely vulnerable to any number of disruptions, including to anyone with a launcher and a bucket of ball bearings.
Anyone who thinks these won't be a target in future wars isn't paying attention to the way infrastructure is destroyed in modern asymmetric warfare – despite the fact we have an object lesson going right now. And the number of small nations with a big enough launcher increases every year.
Yeah. One good Starlink hit could trigger a whole Kessler Syndrome cascade.
And I really doubt Musk has them insured for 'acts of war'. (If he has them insured at all.)
I'm also surprised North Korea hasn't threatened to do something like this.
STOP AI DATACENTRES USING COMMUNITY POWER AND WATER!!!
Ok
NOT LIKE THAT!!!!!
Time to admit if you're opposed to orbital #Ai your opposition to Ai wasn't about environmental damage.
@sundogplanets Thanks for your reporting on this! Do wish more of these tech folk had seen Wall-E back in the day. Always amazing how much science fiction and science fact roll together.
And do hope the goats are doing well. 😊
Excellently put "One corporation based in one country should not be allowed to ruin orbit, the night sky, and the atmosphere for everyone else in the world."
So many issues with satellite "pollution"
Teaching future generations there was never a Natural sky and night view
Un obstructed view of the heavens is a birth right for any creature on Earth - I mean that
Huge security risks of constellations if the Muskrat goes out of business
Huge security risks if Muskrat is hacked or there is significant ground operations disruption
Out of control constellations, impact risks
@sundogplanets
IMHO it is quite strange that an agency of just one country decides over the sky pollution of the entire world.
We should expand the area in which every country can decide what or who is allowed to fly over it to let's say 1000 miles or 1500 km. Within this range every country should be allowed to destroy every object flying there before this object can cause any harm or generate profit.
Of course the US agency FCC might decide about satellites flying over the USA only.
@sundogplanets what I don’t understand is, how the aerospace engineers and astronomers they have working at spacex can be ok with this.
They need to be shunned by all the academic communities they belong to.
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