Comment on FCC Denies Starlink Low-Orbit Bid for Lower Latency

• Kbobabob@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Please try reading the article before commenting. This is the very first paragraph.

  The FCC has once again rejected a Starlink plan to deploy thousands of internet satellites in very low earth orbits (VLEO) ranging from 340 to 360 kilometers. In an order published last week, the FCC wrote: “SpaceX may not deploy any satellites designed for operational altitudes below the International Space Station,” whose orbit can range as low as 370 kilometers.

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  • fadedmaster@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    That doesn’t say anything about lethal range. It just says they won’t allow it to be lower than the ISS’s orbit. It could be because of “lethal range” or it could be that they want as little crap in the way of routes to and from the ISS.

    I looked over the article (albeit very quickly) just in case you didn’t quote enough of the article on accident and I didn’t see anything about lethality. I could have missed it or I’m not reading between the lines (maybe missing their meaning in the article).

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    • Kbobabob@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      There’s less than 10 kilometers between them and SpaceX has been known to have some go out of their designed orbit. So it has the potential to be and they determined the risk is not worth it.

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    • Veneroso@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      In general, these things are zipping around the earth at 17,000 mph. There’s 5,504 of them. Space is already dangerous with all of the space garbage in order. If these were to collide it could easily make getting things into orbit due to the debris and the chain reaction if the debris caused more debris from impact. Space garbage really is something we don’t have a solution for.

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      • ShepherdPie@midwest.social ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        This is a pretty ignorant take and borderline disinformation. Yes they travel fast. Yes there are a lot of them. No they don’t pose any risk of blocking space travel even if they all exploded because they’re not in a stable orbit where they can just stay up there forever. They’re low enough that they’re facing a constant pull back into earth.

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