Elon Musk is a total fool and an idiot, but like others said, this article is hogwash. The satellites do not pose a risk for Kessler Syndrome due to their LEO. They will fall to earth and burn up. They also maneuver to avoid collisions. It is highly unlikely to contribute anything at all to Kessler Syndrome.
Additionally, how are they comparing carbon footprint? Article is behind paywall. The internet infrastructure on earth didn’t pop into existence out of thin air, carbon neutral. The trucks and ships used to lay wire, the mining and manufacturing of everything involved in the process, creates carbon for both. The carbon that would be created to provide access to rural areas as an alternative. If you are going to count the carbon to make and fuel spaceships, you must also count the carbon to make the ships that lay and maintain undersea cables and trucks that maintain cable on land. The SpaceX ships are largely reusable as well, so the carbon to make the ships also needs to be split among its voyages to space just as a ship at sea makes multiple trips.
Even if they’re in low earth orbit an impact could spread pieces into higher orbit due to the energies involved. That could in turn impact other satellites at a higher orbit and just keep going.
Quantum mechanics also says that all the air in my lungs could collapse to a single point, but on the grand scale, these things don’t happen. Risk analysis requires evaluation of probabilities.
It is very improbable that there will be a collision caused by a starlink satellite. While Musk is certainly an idiot who can’t be trusted, there are intelligent people who work for SpaceX who have considered all this and more before launching their satellites.
Elon Musk is a total fool and an idiot, but like others said, this article is hogwash. The satellites do not pose a risk for Kessler Syndrome due to their LEO. They will fall to earth and burn up. They also maneuver to avoid collisions. It is highly unlikely to contribute anything at all to Kessler Syndrome.
Additionally, how are they comparing carbon footprint? Article is behind paywall. The internet infrastructure on earth didn’t pop into existence out of thin air, carbon neutral. The trucks and ships used to lay wire, the mining and manufacturing of everything involved in the process, creates carbon for both. The carbon that would be created to provide access to rural areas as an alternative. If you are going to count the carbon to make and fuel spaceships, you must also count the carbon to make the ships that lay and maintain undersea cables and trucks that maintain cable on land. The SpaceX ships are largely reusable as well, so the carbon to make the ships also needs to be split among its voyages to space just as a ship at sea makes multiple trips.
Even if they’re in low earth orbit an impact could spread pieces into higher orbit due to the energies involved. That could in turn impact other satellites at a higher orbit and just keep going.
Quantum mechanics also says that all the air in my lungs could collapse to a single point, but on the grand scale, these things don’t happen. Risk analysis requires evaluation of probabilities.
It is very improbable that there will be a collision caused by a starlink satellite. While Musk is certainly an idiot who can’t be trusted, there are intelligent people who work for SpaceX who have considered all this and more before launching their satellites.