I have to update the Starlink numbers in my talk.
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I have to update the Starlink numbers in my talk. But this time, I last gave my talk TWO DAYS AGO. This is stupid.
There are 27 more Starlinks in orbit today than there were on Monday: there are now 9,526 Starlink satellites orbiting above our heads.
1,458 have already been burned up in the atmosphere (and at least 1 of those made it to the ground in the easiest place in the world to find space debris...) adding many hundreds of tons of weird metals to the stratosphere. #ProfSamLectureTour
@sundogplanets correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this https://arxiv.org/pdf/2512.09643 kind of saying that we have at most 11 years (another solar maximum cycle) to basically have 100% probability of a Kessler syndrome more or less locking us from accessing LEO (at least with humans aboard) … and screwing up astronoy for years AND dumping bunch of interesting stuff into the upper layers of atmosphere? If yes - Why The F”&£ we are still allowing any mega-constellations and not downing the ones in orbit?
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I have to update the Starlink numbers in my talk. But this time, I last gave my talk TWO DAYS AGO. This is stupid.
There are 27 more Starlinks in orbit today than there were on Monday: there are now 9,526 Starlink satellites orbiting above our heads.
1,458 have already been burned up in the atmosphere (and at least 1 of those made it to the ground in the easiest place in the world to find space debris...) adding many hundreds of tons of weird metals to the stratosphere. #ProfSamLectureTour
Here is thought experiment, which might make you incredibly depressed if being any more depressed in this day and age as possible: these satellites have a definite lifetime, and there is some expectation that some of them will become damaged and fall from orbit.
Injection of satellites means a consequential and maybe exponential death rates. That’s just basic demographics.
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I have to update the Starlink numbers in my talk. But this time, I last gave my talk TWO DAYS AGO. This is stupid.
There are 27 more Starlinks in orbit today than there were on Monday: there are now 9,526 Starlink satellites orbiting above our heads.
1,458 have already been burned up in the atmosphere (and at least 1 of those made it to the ground in the easiest place in the world to find space debris...) adding many hundreds of tons of weird metals to the stratosphere. #ProfSamLectureTour
@sundogplanets I've just read that they are aiming for at least 12K (potentially 34K) satellites, with an average lifetime of 5-7 years.
Sorry if this question has been answered elsewhere already, but... is there any information about what 2,000 downed satellites each year will do to our atmosphere, exactly?
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I have to update the Starlink numbers in my talk. But this time, I last gave my talk TWO DAYS AGO. This is stupid.
There are 27 more Starlinks in orbit today than there were on Monday: there are now 9,526 Starlink satellites orbiting above our heads.
1,458 have already been burned up in the atmosphere (and at least 1 of those made it to the ground in the easiest place in the world to find space debris...) adding many hundreds of tons of weird metals to the stratosphere. #ProfSamLectureTour
@sundogplanets I saw a really bright red shooting star trailing sparks two nights ago when I went out to look for auroras, and wondered if it were a dissolving satellite
it was traveling south to north in the sky east of my house in coastal Oregon
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Oh fuck, there are 9 more Xingwang megaconstellation satellites in orbit compared to Monday as well. Time to go outside (and not see any stars. I am really tired of cities).
I can only manage a day in a city... and I used to live in London! (I loved it.) Now, give me nature and the countryside, any day
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@sundogplanets I've just read that they are aiming for at least 12K (potentially 34K) satellites, with an average lifetime of 5-7 years.
Sorry if this question has been answered elsewhere already, but... is there any information about what 2,000 downed satellites each year will do to our atmosphere, exactly?
I've heard 40,000.
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I've heard 40,000.
@deedeeque That's even worse! I got the 34K from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink
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I have to update the Starlink numbers in my talk. But this time, I last gave my talk TWO DAYS AGO. This is stupid.
There are 27 more Starlinks in orbit today than there were on Monday: there are now 9,526 Starlink satellites orbiting above our heads.
1,458 have already been burned up in the atmosphere (and at least 1 of those made it to the ground in the easiest place in the world to find space debris...) adding many hundreds of tons of weird metals to the stratosphere. #ProfSamLectureTour
@sundogplanets and then there's TeraWave, which is Jeff's high bandwidth space based 5k+ LEO, 18 MEO constellation which starts launching next year.
They just keep on banging 'em up there
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I have to update the Starlink numbers in my talk. But this time, I last gave my talk TWO DAYS AGO. This is stupid.
There are 27 more Starlinks in orbit today than there were on Monday: there are now 9,526 Starlink satellites orbiting above our heads.
1,458 have already been burned up in the atmosphere (and at least 1 of those made it to the ground in the easiest place in the world to find space debris...) adding many hundreds of tons of weird metals to the stratosphere. #ProfSamLectureTour
@sundogplanets
is there a map? -
Oh fuck, there are 9 more Xingwang megaconstellation satellites in orbit compared to Monday as well. Time to go outside (and not see any stars. I am really tired of cities).
@sundogplanets scene in a netflix scifi movie: why are the stars following me? Those arent stars those are drones and satepites...run!!!
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I have to update the Starlink numbers in my talk. But this time, I last gave my talk TWO DAYS AGO. This is stupid.
There are 27 more Starlinks in orbit today than there were on Monday: there are now 9,526 Starlink satellites orbiting above our heads.
1,458 have already been burned up in the atmosphere (and at least 1 of those made it to the ground in the easiest place in the world to find space debris...) adding many hundreds of tons of weird metals to the stratosphere. #ProfSamLectureTour
is anyone quantifying/studying the possible effects/persistance/deposition specifics of the injection of vaporized metals etc in the atmosphere from de-orbiting starlink satellites (and others) ?
Is this ~15% attrition rate on these starlink satellites expected to be a sustained rate over the life of the program? If so... cumulatively, this could become quite significant over time. I do hope it's being looked at.
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I have to update the Starlink numbers in my talk. But this time, I last gave my talk TWO DAYS AGO. This is stupid.
There are 27 more Starlinks in orbit today than there were on Monday: there are now 9,526 Starlink satellites orbiting above our heads.
1,458 have already been burned up in the atmosphere (and at least 1 of those made it to the ground in the easiest place in the world to find space debris...) adding many hundreds of tons of weird metals to the stratosphere. #ProfSamLectureTour
@sundogplanets Blue Origin announced TeraWave today.
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Here is thought experiment, which might make you incredibly depressed if being any more depressed in this day and age as possible: these satellites have a definite lifetime, and there is some expectation that some of them will become damaged and fall from orbit.
Injection of satellites means a consequential and maybe exponential death rates. That’s just basic demographics.
@GhostOnTheHalfShell @sundogplanets this sounds like a business opportunity - satellite safety and recycling co. #darkhumor
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I have to update the Starlink numbers in my talk. But this time, I last gave my talk TWO DAYS AGO. This is stupid.
There are 27 more Starlinks in orbit today than there were on Monday: there are now 9,526 Starlink satellites orbiting above our heads.
1,458 have already been burned up in the atmosphere (and at least 1 of those made it to the ground in the easiest place in the world to find space debris...) adding many hundreds of tons of weird metals to the stratosphere. #ProfSamLectureTour
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I have to update the Starlink numbers in my talk. But this time, I last gave my talk TWO DAYS AGO. This is stupid.
There are 27 more Starlinks in orbit today than there were on Monday: there are now 9,526 Starlink satellites orbiting above our heads.
1,458 have already been burned up in the atmosphere (and at least 1 of those made it to the ground in the easiest place in the world to find space debris...) adding many hundreds of tons of weird metals to the stratosphere. #ProfSamLectureTour
@sundogplanets Keep fighting the good fight, Professor. We need someone to give us accurate information we can rely on.
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I have to update the Starlink numbers in my talk. But this time, I last gave my talk TWO DAYS AGO. This is stupid.
There are 27 more Starlinks in orbit today than there were on Monday: there are now 9,526 Starlink satellites orbiting above our heads.
1,458 have already been burned up in the atmosphere (and at least 1 of those made it to the ground in the easiest place in the world to find space debris...) adding many hundreds of tons of weird metals to the stratosphere. #ProfSamLectureTour
@sundogplanets sorry for the intrusion but I imagine you update these numbers before your speech. What if you did it during your speech to show just how crazy it is. You could say you last updated it on so and so but lets update the number right now and then possibly people would be shocked at just how many more there are. Anyways disregard if this is silly nonsense.
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@sundogplanets sorry for the intrusion but I imagine you update these numbers before your speech. What if you did it during your speech to show just how crazy it is. You could say you last updated it on so and so but lets update the number right now and then possibly people would be shocked at just how many more there are. Anyways disregard if this is silly nonsense.
@thejacenallen HA!! I love this idea! Doing math in front of a lot of people is a recipe for disaster, but I love this
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@thejacenallen HA!! I love this idea! Doing math in front of a lot of people is a recipe for disaster, but I love this
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social @thejacenallen@mastodon.social and dont swear when there's a big launch between updates and presentation
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is anyone quantifying/studying the possible effects/persistance/deposition specifics of the injection of vaporized metals etc in the atmosphere from de-orbiting starlink satellites (and others) ?
Is this ~15% attrition rate on these starlink satellites expected to be a sustained rate over the life of the program? If so... cumulatively, this could become quite significant over time. I do hope it's being looked at.
@kitkat_blue Here's one paper: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2024GL109280
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@thejacenallen HA!! I love this idea! Doing math in front of a lot of people is a recipe for disaster, but I love this
@sundogplanets oh yeah the math. No way. I would never attempt this myself.
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