• BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    39
    arrow-down
    5
    ·
    7 hours ago

    I was a space kid, followed every space shot since 1965, was a super fan of Apollo 11, I had a subscription to Nat Geo growing up, just for the Space photos.

    So I can’t believe I’m saying this: Maybe we’ve gone far enough for now, and we should have a moratorium on space for the next 50 years.

    We should concentrate on Earth for awhile, dontcha think?

    • LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      2 hours ago

      I’ve been really passionate about space. My bday is on the anniversary of the moon landing, and my one aunt has always reminded me of the fact. My great grandfather worked for NASA and my aunt gave me his stargazing binoculars that his brother gave him when he got hired at NASA. That part of my family instilled a huge love of science in me, esp space stuff. I wanna go to space more than anything, but I don’t have the brains or constitution to be an astronaut. So I just daydream, stargaze, and write poems about the cosmos.

    • Pennomi@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      15
      ·
      5 hours ago

      I dunno, every engineer not working on space almost certainly ends up optimizing some sort of ad delivery system. The tech industry is almost completely enshittified.

        • Pennomi@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          5 hours ago

          That’s great, but that comes from funding those things, not shutting down a different industry. It’d be better to shut down non-productive industries like bombing brown kids in the Middle East.

    • dev_null@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      4 hours ago

      Believe it or not, you can do two things at once. Some people are interested in space, some in geology. That’s fine.

    • betanumerus@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      6 hours ago

      Right. Elon hires people on the basis they’ll be making Mars travel possible, but that Starship is really for dumping metal all over the night sky.

  • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    49
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    9 hours ago

    Elon Musk is such a goddamned literal supervillain that he managed to make the theme of Firefly wrong.

    Apparently, they can take the sky from you.

  • TrackinDaKraken@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    34
    ·
    9 hours ago

    Billionaires don’t give a fuck about anyone but themselves, not even their kids. And, we’ve all agreed to let billionaires run the world, it seems.

    • discocactus@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      2 hours ago

      We’re just a few millimeters away from revoking that agreement though. There’s not that many of them.

  • Brkdncr@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    3 hours ago

    Why not vantablack them? I thought they were already sending prototypes up that aren’t reflective and avoid the light pollution problem.

    The real issue is when other countries that don’t give a shit throw stuff up there and we can’t do much about it.

    • aesthelete@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      2 hours ago

      The real issue is when other countries that don’t give a shit throw stuff up there and we can’t do much about it.

      Dude, we are the country that doesn’t give a shit and throws stuff up there and we can’t do much about it. WE ARE.

    • discocactus@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      2 hours ago

      I mean. We shouldn’t probably. But can’t is a pretty strong word for that. Non reflective paint is a great idea. Stealth satellites.

  • MuteDog@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    43
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    10 hours ago

    They might put a million satellites into orbit, but they’re certainly not going to be orbital data centers. At least not as we currently understand data centers. The idea that space is cold and therefore a great place to put data centers that get hot is the idea of a stoned moron talking out of their ass. Space is a vacuum, you know what else is a vacuum, the part of your portable coffee mug that keeps your beverage warm or cold for ages, because vacuum is a crazy good insulator. Just because space is cold doesn’t mean the heat from an orbital data center can dissipate into it. This dumb idea is never going to happen unless data canter technology improves to the point where they aren’t environmental disasters anymore.

    • how_we_burned@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      edit-2
      3 hours ago

      They already have orbital, distributed, data centres.

      It’s called Starlink. It’s already got the equivalent of entire cabinet worth of hardware in a single satellite.

      Scott Manley has been doing the maths and shown how it’s already incredibly viable with current tech, especially with how they can already cool 20kw of Starlink sat just fine.

      The biggest constraints on earth are town planning costs and delays/time, and of course power. (most DC cooling systems are closed looped)

      https://youtu.be/DCto6UkBJoI

    • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      9 hours ago

      It’s either data centres in space or giant mirrors to reflect sunlight.

      Presumably his engineers have explained this to him but he didn’t listen

      • fishy@lemmy.today
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        7 hours ago

        To cool the iss they’re exchanging heat into water pumping to ammonia exchangers then radiated through infrared. The radiators for a space data center would need to be prohibitively massive as I understand it.

        • sunnie@slrpnk.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          3 hours ago

          For real. Thermal regulation of spacecraft is a problem that current, non-data center, satellites are struggling with and increasing the load by orders of magnitude isn’t going to make things easier. You can easily calculate the area needed for radiative heat transfer for a perfect radiator and you quickly end up with some gargantuan panels. Perfect radiators are also perfect absorbers, so the whole system goes to shit if the panel isn’t facing deep space.

    • TransNeko@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      10 hours ago

      Welcome to SpaceX where we provide a garenteed night sky view that is simply to die for. Subscribe now to enjoy your favorite night sky. Subscribe now for a lower price than normal. Remember, Subscription to SpaceX’s night sky is mandated by USA law. Those who don’t subscribe will be executed as Traitors and Terrorists. SpaceX’s Night Sky experience normally costs $399 per day but if you subscribe in the next 30 seconds using the following code (insert code here) you can enjoy SpaceX’s Night Sky for just $99.99 a day. subscribe now. Terms and conditions apply. SpaceX is not responsible for any propery damage, injuries, and/or deaths related to SpaceX satellites falling from orbit. Prices scale based on your race and gender with White men receiving a 100% discount.

  • chahn.chris@piefed.social
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    7 hours ago

    Who needs the night sky when you can download the old night sky via satellite internet with gig speed downloads in vr? /s

  • Asafum@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    143
    ·
    15 hours ago

    It’s so infuriating… I occasionally do astrophotography and it’s getting to the point where any long exposure just has satellite streaks everywhere… Fuck Musk.

    • yucandu@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      56
      ·
      15 hours ago

      I remember just 10 years ago using a special app on my phone to alert me of any potential satellite flares so I could run out and catch them.

      Now I can’t look at the night sky for 2 minutes without seeing one.

      • errer@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        34
        ·
        12 hours ago

        You can actually see some in broad daylight. I was shocked one day looking up and seeing one (white dot in the picture, verified with sat tracking app).

      • Link@rentadrunk.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        11 hours ago

        For the uneducated, what do these look like and can you see them in areas with light pollution?

        • cecilkorik@piefed.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          9
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          10 hours ago

          Yes. They are technically reflected sunlight, so they are as bright as the sun, just very small. It makes sense you can see them during sunlight, since they are reflections of sunlight. You will typically only see them on the side of the sky opposite the sun, but the exact angle depends on the location and orientation of the satellite and the surface that is actually doing the reflection.

          Generally speaking, they are dots that fade in somewhat gradually, moving at a consistent pace (typically slower than a shooting star, but faster than an airplane at cruising altitude) in a straight line direction for awhile at full brightness, then fading away.

        • yucandu@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          8 hours ago

          To me, they look exactly like all the other stars in the sky, except they move, a bit slower than a plane, and they don’t blink.

        • Cethin@lemmy.zip
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          10 hours ago

          If you look towards the horizon with the sun, a little before sunrise or after sunset, you’ll probably be able to see flashes of them as they catch the light.