SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is accused of interfering with the work of astronomers and stargazers, but we’re powerless to stop him sending more space junk into orbit to make him more money – oops, sorry – for the good of humanity.
And so, this week we have also witnessed the extraordinary spectacle of the launch procession of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites, shooting upwards one after the other… after the other... after the other, ad infinitum, as he sends his latest load of money-spinners into the heavens from where, in this phase, they will provide unobstructed broadband services to previously unreachable places like, um, the northern USA and Canada.
Under the laughable claim of “Keeping Space Clean,” the SpaceX website insists that after reaching the end of their working life the proposed 1,500 quarter-ton satellites in this constellation will then “de-orbit” and re-enter Earth’s atmosphere, where 95 percent of their components will burn up in one to five years.
So with the typical working life of low-orbit satellites like these of around five years, followed by up to another five years before they hurtle flaming towards Earth, we only have to put up with them for 10 years. But that’s just one of the tens of thousands of satellites that make up the whole SpaceX project.
How’s that “Keeping Space Clean”?
Imagine having a neighbor who moved in next door and spoilt every sunny weekend by burning tyres in their back garden, completely indifferent to your existence. For 10 years.
And it seems there is nothing we can do about it because these things just keep on coming. The latest batch of 60 Starlink satellites took off this afternoon from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
And so, this week we have also witnessed the extraordinary spectacle of the launch procession of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites, shooting upwards one after the other… after the other... after the other, ad infinitum, as he sends his latest load of money-spinners into the heavens from where, in this phase, they will provide unobstructed broadband services to previously unreachable places like, um, the northern USA and Canada.
Under the laughable claim of “Keeping Space Clean,” the SpaceX website insists that after reaching the end of their working life the proposed 1,500 quarter-ton satellites in this constellation will then “de-orbit” and re-enter Earth’s atmosphere, where 95 percent of their components will burn up in one to five years.
So with the typical working life of low-orbit satellites like these of around five years, followed by up to another five years before they hurtle flaming towards Earth, we only have to put up with them for 10 years. But that’s just one of the tens of thousands of satellites that make up the whole SpaceX project.
How’s that “Keeping Space Clean”?
Imagine having a neighbor who moved in next door and spoilt every sunny weekend by burning tyres in their back garden, completely indifferent to your existence. For 10 years.
And it seems there is nothing we can do about it because these things just keep on coming. The latest batch of 60 Starlink satellites took off this afternoon from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
