I, for one, welcome our new Starlink overlords!

[redpoint5]

I've got all this computing muscle and nowhere to flex it. I'd share if it were practical.

[freebeard]

Parity in transfer rates enables things like mesh networking.

I like to think the eras will sort into before Starlink and after. One Starlink connection might serve an entire intranet.

[Piotrsko]

Other than filling up LEO with hazardous bits, I don't see starlink being a thing in 10 years but Elon does have this history......and if he does get to Mars, I can't see him caring about LEO earth much past the exit trip.

However, that said, I'm not betting money either way.

[redpoint5]

I'm curious how many RF channels there are for this "cellular" network? There's some limit to the number of dedicated channels, and after they're full they have to share time with other nodes.

I'd be surprised if these little gizmos can handle all of the Netflix streams when the evening crunch hits.

Of course this positions SpaceX to be a leader in intrasolar communications. Test here where it's easier to fix mistakes. Debris relatively quickly suffers orbital degradation and re-enters the atmosphere, so there's a cleanup mechanism there. Not so for orbits around the moon, for instance. Solar wind would have to slowly clean up that junk.

[Piotrsko]

Vanguard is still in orbit, launched in '58 predicted to decay and rentry about 2050. A 4-40 nut moving at orbital velocity may be up there for 20 years but still will kill a hardened satellite. Orbital mechanics are impressive

[freebeard]

Debris relatively quickly suffers orbital degradation and re-enters the atmosphere, so there's a cleanup mechanism there.

What we learn is that Amazon's constellation is at a different altitude than Starlink (590 vs 550km?), and the concern appears to be large amounts of alumina dispersed in the upper atmosphere.

[redpoint5]

The smaller the pieces, the quicker the orbit should degrade. More surface area to mass. Don't know how that equates in terms of years. It isn't an argument to needlessly clutter the sky, but at least testing this stuff out here is less costly than afar, and in a low/no atmosphere orbit.

[freebeard]

I thought that they were intentionally designed to have a short service life. Thus a recurring revenue stream for SpaceX.

On the Moon it's all lithospheric braking.

[redpoint5]

I’d like to see a successful meeting of a robot and meteor. Pretty unimpressed with the last attempt and lack of good video footage. Scientists want the data, but we’re largely visually inspired creatures.

[freebeard]

I’d like to see a successful....

Intrastellar probe that would expand, like an acorn growing into a self-replicating oak tree, into an industrial satellite and use asteroidal iron to create inhabitable space. ....in space!

Then those that survive depopulation can expand without limitation.