Mastodawn

FCC reply comments are due by 5pm EDT Monday 30 March on Reflect Orbital. If you wrote in a comment, please please please write in again saying that they did not address your concerns in their letter (which is very hard to find in the FCC dumpster-fire-of-a-website). Instructions here: https://aas.org/posts/advocacy/2026/02/how-submit-comments-satellite-applications-fcc

The most horrifying part in their "consolidated reply": they agree that they could in fact cause permanent eye damage to people using medium-sized telescopes. WILD.

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Prof. Sam Lawler Mar 28

Any journalists want to write about this? Or anyone know how to figure out who insures Reflect Orbital? Reflect Orbital will cause eye damage to people using telescopes, as astronomers have previously calculated, and they openly admitted it in their reply.

(There is a whole slew of absolutely devastating ecological damage they will also cause, but I'm focusing on this one for now because it's so shocking)

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Don Ray Mar 28

@sundogplanets

Just a general question for anyone:

Why are other countries letting the US decide what happens in the sky over their country? Why does it all depend on one corrupt, anti-science government?

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Dr. 🏔️❄️🗺️📊🎨⛷️🧗🏻‍♂️🛶

@donray @sundogplanets

Australia has no teeth. Well, it chose to remove any it had when it comes to USian corporations in space.

Speaking up about massive satellite swarms is career death in remote sensing (I am a case in point). And increasingly in emergency services who are all rushing to buy in to Starlink

We do host impactful infrastructure, we could lean in. We don't. The strategic thinkosphere is still full of big stupid constellation boosters.

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Don Ray 5d ago

@adamsteer @sundogplanets

I guess Starlink seems like a quick and easy fix for infrastructure needs. Just sign an agreement and give Musk a bunch of money...

I would think governments would shy away from a company that can and will turn off the internet when it wants to (or is paid to) as it has done in Ukraine.

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Dr. 🏔️❄️🗺️📊🎨⛷️🧗🏻‍♂️🛶5d ago

@donray @sundogplanets

you'd think eh?

Also in emergency space:

Tree fall risks are a massive deal!

Ok cool let's make our critical comms infrastructure a patch antenna that we can't field repair, placed on vehicle roofs.