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SpaceX Launches 60 More Starlink Internet Satellites from Cape Canaveral

posted by Fnord666 on Monday October 26 2020, @03:51PM   
from the the-inconceivable-has-become-commonplace dept.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for nutherguy:

SpaceX launches 60 more Starlink internet satellites from Cape Canaveral:

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 60 more Starlink internet relay satellites on Saturday, boosting the total number launched to date to 895 as the company builds out a planned constellation of thousands designed to provide global high-speed broadband service.

Running two days late because of an on-board camera issue, the Falcon 9's twice-flown first stage thundered to life at 11:31 a.m. EDT, pushing the 229-foot-tall rocket away from pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. It was the California rocket builder's 19th launch so far this year and its 15th Starlink flight.

[...] With Saturday's launch, SpaceX has put 895 Starlinks into orbit, 180 of them — more satellites than any other company owns — in less than three weeks.

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Original Submission

• Re:Small teeny tiny satellites Re:Small teeny tiny satellites (Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday October 29 2020, @03:59PM (2 children)

  by Freeman (732) on Thursday October 29 2020, @03:59PM (#1070399) Journal

  The problem is a technical challenge, nothing more. SpaceX has done more than just turn a deaf ear as well. They've been working on components to reduce the brightness factor of their satellites. Which is one of the bigger complaints apparently.

  "We all knew [the satellites] were coming, but we never imagined they were going to be so bright," James Lowenthal, an astronomer at Smith College in Massachusetts, said during a plenary talk at the 236th meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), held virtually on June 2.

  https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-satellites-astronomers-visibility-response.html [space.com]

  Starlink represents a real possibility for those out in the boondocks to actually get modern communication services. It's a much simpler task for a place like the UK to connect every citizen via good wired infrastructure. The UK has a surface area of 242,495 km squared. While the United States has a surface area of 9,833,520 km squared. The entirety of Europe has a surface area of 10,180,000 km squared. It's much more akin to providing good wired internet service to the whole of Europe. Yet, perhaps China would be a better comparison, it being a single country with 9,596,961 km squared surface area. They've actually got real deserts there too, unlike Europe.

  --
  Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"

  Parent

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• Re:Small teeny tiny satellites Re:Small teeny tiny satellites (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday October 30 2020, @01:37AM (1 child)

  by FatPhil (863) <{pc-soylent} {at} {asdf.fi}> on Friday October 30 2020, @01:37AM (#1070650) Homepage

  You're talking to someone who spent a decade working for telecomms companies in the country with the lowest population density in Europe. One that had 96% mobile data coverage 25 years ago, and the same at High Speed 15 years ago. Your numbers do not frighten me, they merely tell me that you've run out of arguments and are attempting to baboozle with irrelevancies.

  --
  Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves

  Parent

  • Re:Small teeny tiny satellites (Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday November 02 2020, @03:43PM

    by Freeman (732) on Monday November 02 2020, @03:43PM (#1071952) Journal

    'eh, the USA's troubles aren't your troubles, I get it. Neither are Africa's troubles your troubles. Perhaps, you'll care about other Non-European places at some point.

    --
    Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"

    Parent