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SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites 'leak' so much radiation that it's hurting radio astronomy, scientists say (www.space.com)

submitted 1 year ago by iraq_lobster@lemm.ee to c/science@lemmy.ml

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[–] I_Miss_Daniel@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I would ask people to consider the benefits to the globe of having ubiquitous 100+ Mbps internet no matter where you are.

Most of the people, myself included, who get Starlink get it because there's no other viable option - usually due to distance from towns and cities.

Certainly there is some pollution as a result of building and sending the 2,000+ satellites, but it may be a net positive compared to the environmental impact of digging a trench to each property, manufacturing and laying a fibre optic cable to the end user.

The end user routers use about 30 watts which is also a higher cost compared to the 5 watts or so most other technologies use. Mine runs on solar.

I'm not happy about giving Elon money for this service of course given his behaviour - he's not the majority owner at least.

The unintended interference is probably something that can be designed away to some degree - I'm guessing harmonics from the beam forming are tricky if that's the cause.

[–] Count0@lemmy.villa-straylight.social -1 points 1 year ago

You think launching a bunch of satellites is cheaper than laying fiber optic over long stretches of the country?

And no, it doesn't need to be buried.