The costly collateral damage from Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite fleet

4 years ago
Anonymous $-9GJQVHNr8

https://thenextweb.com/syndication/2020/06/08/the-costly-collateral-damage-from-elon-musks-starlink-satellite-fleet/

A colossal chess game of immense consequences is being fought in outer space, right now. On March 18 and April 22 2020, two rockets from SpaceX, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, each put 60 satellites into orbit. Those launches are but the sixth and seventh in a series intended to rapidly make 1,584 satellites available.

The aim is to create a satellite network called Starlink. If Musk has his way, by 2025 no less than 11,943 of his satellites will circle the Earth, and if permission is granted, the ultimate result would be a staggering 42,000. This mind-boggling number must be compared to the 8,000 satellites sent into orbit since the Soviet Sputnik, of which 2,218 are still in operation. Why such outsized ambitions? To implement his dream of a “multiplanetary” society, and to fund it by providing all (solvent) Earthlings with high-speed Internet access.