Something tells me the data that is coming from satellitemap.space is very accurate especially since the NOAA has a lot of job openings now.

  • Chickenstalker@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    16
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    Well, that’s bad and wasteful innit? You pollute the atmosphere with rocket exhaust to send them up there. It seems to me to be highly unsustainable.

    • FaceDeer@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      10
      ·
      1 year ago

      If it’s unsustainable then Starlink will go out of business. They’re actually turning a profit already, though, so I suspect it is not.

        • FaceDeer@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          Currently Falcon 9 is partially reusable, which is still more reusable than any other space launch system. One Falcon 9 launch uses 30,000 gallons of kerosene, which is half the fuel capacity of a Boeing 747. So these launches have got a pretty small ecological footprint already.

          Once Starlink launches switch to Starship, they’ll be using methane fuel and fully-reusable spacecraft. SpaceX plans to produce the methane using solar power to run the Haber process, since they’ll be wanting to do that on Mars to refuel Starships there in the longer term, so that will be fully carbon-neutral at that point.

          Starlink allows for Internet communication without having to lay down trans-oceanic cables or install other major infrastructure on the ground. So that reduces the environmental impact there as well.

        • LastYearsPumpkin@feddit.ch
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          It’s not GOOD for the planet, but space is a tiny fraction of impact, and a lot of activities like this are better than the alternatives.

          Instead of digging hundreds of miles of cables with trucks and shipping and clearing nature, we can send internet through space, that nature doesn’t use.

          2000 satellites is still less than a week’s production of cars at a major factory, or one tanker truck, or just about any industry’s waste.