The Starlink Satellites

[steph]

Has anyone seen this? Apparently they're quite visible. The 'train' should gradually disperse, but should be visible after every launch. This is the first batch of 60 satellites. They hope to have 1200 up and running. www.Heavens-Above.com already has a section on this

Edit. Now i see there's another thread in Addons about this

 

[BrianJ]

Hi,
I had a look for them last night. Not much cloud and sky was reasonably dark by 22:10 at the start of the pass, as predicted by Heavens Above timing chart. And.....I didn't see a thing! Saw the ISS go over at the predicted time. Could see the mag 3.8 stars in Ursa Major OK. But no Starlink sats :-( Maybe I was being over-optimistic about the visibility?
I notice that the Heavens Above "Dynamic Display" for Starlink objects didn't seem to match their timing charts.
Anyone have better luck?
Cheers,
Brian

 

[mahdavi3d]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUuMufduc-o"]Is Elon Musk Ruining Our Night Sky? - YouTube[/ame]​

 

[fred18]

So apparently SpaceX is wishing to push the number of starlink satellites from 12k to 30k...

https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/dj9ter/spacex_says_12000_satellites_isnt_enough_so_it/?utm_source=ifttt

If you would have told me that someone was willing to put 30k satellites in LEO for a single project I would have replied that it's pure craziness because it will make human space flight much harder due to risk of debris and everything related.
My question is very easy then: is this sustainable? or this project and other related to this may lead to a "closed sky" in the future for humans?

when I see images representing the space debris issue it really feels that it is a problem that needs to be addressed and that it is acceptable only if the amount of debris that we leave there will keep this pace in the next years. But what if we put in one ora a few shots 30k satellites??

I like Elon, he is a visionaire and for those who are interested in space as we are it's a very good guy to have around, but I wonder if doing this is irresponsible or not.

 

[Urwumpe]

Well, essentially its one satellite per square degree of sky. Thats pretty dense in LEO and they cover quite a range of altitudes.

But I doubt they will be a lasting problem. They have a short limited lifetime and will need to be replaced. Possibly by a constellation using less satellites. Or a terrestrial solution.

 

[4throck]

... I wonder if doing this is irresponsible or not....

Same amount of responsibility as any other manufacturer.
Consider cell phones. There are millions of them and they the must go somewhere when they turn obsolete.
Same thing with cars, shoes, tools, etc.

Someone will make a profit out of cleaning space garbage. That's how it works, it's all about money :lol: