SpaceX wants to launch a million satellites

Posted by billybuckwheat 1 day ago

SpaceX wants to launch a million satellites(www.cbc.ca)

58 points | 129 commentspage 2

cameldrv 21 hours ago|

This seems like a recipe for Kessler syndrome.

2OEH8eoCRo0 21 hours ago||

SpaceX wants to self-deal artificial demand for launches.

Zigurd 19 hours ago|

Well smarty-pants have you got any better ideas for selling the worst IPO the 21st-century?

ChrisArchitect 22 hours ago||

March 8th story OP?

Some previous discussion:

A million new SpaceX satellites will destroy the night sky

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47598415

Part of this announcement:

xAI joins SpaceX

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46862170

LightBug1 23 hours ago||

Oh ffs ... how is the homebrew laser defense industry coming along?

Spec Priority: ability to attach said laser defense instrument to home telescope ... and enable user to blast those madafakkas out of the sky.

jocelyner 16 hours ago||

[dead]

exabrial 22 hours ago||

[flagged]

onlypassingthru 22 hours ago||

They've only spent half of the BEAD funds, $21B. 50 out of 56 final plans have been approved so the remaining half will be released.

https://www.ntia.gov/press-release/2026/assistant-secretary-...

exabrial 18 hours ago||

My bad, the spent $21billion and haven't done a single thing.

ceejayoz 22 hours ago||

Well, no shit. First grants went out in 2024, right in time for the administration to change; Lutnick put it on hold almost immediately. It also hasn't cost $42B; "By 2026, about half of the $42.45 billion allocated by Congress during the passage of the IIJA remained unused".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadband_Equity,_Access,_and_...

Incidentally, BEAD includes LEO satellites as part of it. SpaceX got grants from it. (https://texasstandard.org/stories/spacex-demands-changes-fed...)

johnea 22 hours ago||

There is an upside: this may be the shortest route to eliminating any future launches:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome

Sorry Buck Rogers fan bois, should have left this fantasy in the 1950s...

tristanj 22 hours ago|

Mentioning Kessler syndrome, especially in the case of Starlink LEO satellites, is the classic midwit signal.

tzs 21 hours ago||

What makes you think they are talking about Starlink satellites? The 1 million satellites in the article are data center satellites.

CWwdcdk7h 9 hours ago|||

They are supposed to placed on SSO, to avoid the need for energy storage, and that means LEO.

6d6b73 22 hours ago||

Spacex will cause Kessler syndrom and bring the world economy down.

bryanlarsen 18 hours ago||

As long as those satellites are in a self-clearing orbit (below about 300 miles of altitude), Kessler is not a concern.

conception 15 hours ago||

I like that “not being able to use space for 25 years or more” is not a concern.

bryanlarsen 8 hours ago||

It is a concern. We have to ensure those satellites are in a self clearing orbit.

Zigurd 19 hours ago||

Meh. It's more like how else are you gonna set 10X the money on fire that Zuckerberg did with the metaverse?

SilverElfin 23 hours ago|

Should be banned. These companies are destroying a piece of the environment that belongs to all of us - the night sky.

tristanj 23 hours ago||

Banning Starlink is inadequate and won't change anything. China is building its own larger version with 25,000+ satellites. Russia is building its own network. The EU is building its own network.

shafyy 23 hours ago||

[flagged]

Bender 23 hours ago|||

Along that line people should look into BUG ratings [1] for outdoor lighting, especially city operated lights. [1]

[1] - https://www.landscapeforms.com/ideas/bug-rating-system-101

amelius 23 hours ago|||

Let's ban ads too, while we're at it.

Keyframe 22 hours ago||

Where do we sign?

polski-g 23 hours ago||

If you people were in charge in the 1800s, you'd ban the industrial revolution and we'd still need slaves for everything.

sedawkgrep 23 hours ago|||

You don’t think there might be a better solution than having a dozen or more companies all launching thousands of satellites which all perform the same function?

bobsmooth 23 hours ago||

Is there one organization you trust to run the space internet for everyone on earth?

sedawkgrep 31 minutes ago||

Maybe the entire approach is inappropriate.

shafyy 23 hours ago||||

Jesus dude

thejazzman 23 hours ago||||

[flagged]

SilverElfin 23 hours ago|||

Right, because not wanting the night skies polluted for someone else’s profits, with no fair compensation to me, is somehow the same as banning the Industrial Revolution? What exactly are we not able to do with terrestrial internet?