It’s probably already been discussed in this thread, but what are 'dopers thoughts on Starlink or other similar plans? Was going to start a separate thread, but this one seems to be a good place to ask. To me, this sort of system will really help a lot of rural communities. I’ve been trying to get into the beta program so we can test it as a government entity for recommendation and use by our own public in the state, but so far I can’t even get someone to talk to me from the company…and they are the only ones with anything up and working at this point. IF this system works, however, it would save millions (really, 10’s or 100’s of millions) in trying to build out a traditional broadband infrastructure for rural communities to get connected. We could save that money for other things, even subsidizing rural and poor communities with the hardware needed to bring it into their homes.
To the extent that it is available, it seems to work. I know that Frasier Cain uses it exclusively now, and he uses it for live streaming and interviews.
Ever since there was an internet, I kept hearing rumors of one company or another looking into creating an actual usable satellite internet system, but for various reasons, it was never quite the right time (mostly due to launch costs).
I haven’t messed with them at all, so I have no idea what their customer service is like, but there are people who are using it right now, so they must have some. If you go to their website (starlink.com), then it lets you put in your address to check for availability, and then I assume it proceeds from there.
Yeah, that’s the website I’ve had my staff look at. The trouble is, it’s for residential only…and you have to use a credit card, not a PO. I need to actually talk to a human from StarLink to discuss what we need to do the testing we want to do in order to see if it’s a solution we can endorse going forward. To do that StarLink needs to change their terms for commercial/government as well as allow us to use a PO (and a bunch of other things I’d need to discuss with them about their contract, no doubt).
I wish they had someone who was thinking about this aspect of it and had a way to interact with state and local government agencies who I think would be interested in testing this out with an eye towards their own rural populations. In my state I think this could be huge…and save a ton of money currently being spent on things like private 4G LTE networks, which I don’t think to give as much bang for the buck and STILL are going to entail getting each household a bridge while taking years to build out. Something like StarLink could be transformational wrt the digital divide…if I could only get someone to talk to me.
Here in the UK the JWT separated just before lunchtime and I JUST caught the release before having to leave to go for Christmas dinner at my brother’s. Great start to the afternoon…
I’m not going to link to the article so as not to encourage such clickbait trash, but The Guardian published an article on that with this subject: Out-of-control SpaceX rocket on collision course with moon
Ugh. The Guardian does some okay stuff, but when it comes to anything Musk related you can see their bias showing.
Jonathan McDowell (respected astrophysicist) tweeted this:
Anyone know if the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter or any other orbiters could get into a position to record the impact? This is a golden opportunity to get another window into what’s under the surface on the Moon. There have been many surprises in this area, and we are still trying to figure out things like how much water might be under the near surface.
I thank you for that! Not only is the title written neutrally, but the byline correctly notes the possible scientific benefits (and I see quotes McDowell as well).
I’m impressed that Bill Gray’s software even models light pressure.
The article that dtilque linked to says it’s possible:
It’s believed that satellites currently orbiting the moon, including NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and India’s Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft, will be able to gather valuable data from the impact crater and revealed material.
I didn’t really think about that. Why would a weather satellite go any further away than geosynchronous orbit? I have a feeling it wasn’t a weather satellite. Maybe it was actually space weather it was studying, which is something totally different.
And yes, space weather. However, because it is sitting at the L1 Lagrange point, it also gets a nice view of the Earth in constant sunlight (sorta the opposite of the JWST), and hence does some Earth observation as well.
Video of SpaceX launching the Cosmo-Skymed (CSG-2) satellite.
Of particular note is the video they got of the main engine cutoff (MECO) and separation of the first stage. I’ve never seen real-time video that clear of this happening (considering it happens at such high altitude). Really cool. Video below has been queued to start just before launch but you can jump to the MECO part @ 33:30.
Some other pretty cool live shots in there too (seeing the second stage engine glowing and so on). Not to mention the first stage landing back on earth (which is almost old news now but, for me, it never gets old…so cool).
The photography was amazing this time. I’ve never seen MECO from the outside with that level of clarity.
I did see a launch at Vandenberg, just after dusk, with amazing shots of the plumes–including the rapid-fire pulsing of the RCS thrusters on the booster stage, and then the plume from the boostback. But the stages themselves were just points.
If you look carefully, you can see the stabilization ring on the second-stage engine fly off a few moments after ignition. You can always spot this from the on-board cam, but never from a ground camera.
I guess SpaceX is planning to do 3 manned missions, one of which will be an EVA, though it sounds like it will be a stripped-down version. I don’t think their current suits are suited to EVA so perhaps they plan to do a redesign? Regardless, the 3rd mission is a manned mission for their new Starship, so that should be interesting.
