Amazon's Project Kuiper, which uses optical inter-satellite link (OISL) technology to connect more than 3,000 satellites in a mesh network that blankets Earth, just cleared a final hurdle needed to launch next year.

Project Kuiper: Amazon’s answer to SpaceX’s Starlink passes ‘crucial’ test::Amazon’s Project Kuiper, which uses optical inter-satellite link (OISL) technology to connect more than 3,000 satellites in a mesh network that blankets Earth, just cleared a final hurdle needed to launch next year.

    • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.worldEnglish
      111·
      11 months ago

      What happens when China and Russia send up their own constellations? How many companies and governments are allowed to launch their own? Every new constellation significantly increases the chances of a kessler syndrome in LEO, for minimal gain, beyond maybe 2 for redundancy.

      • jantin@lemmy.worldEnglish
        14·
        11 months ago

        Musky and Bezos are probably well aware of this so they happily pour billions into these systems. Whoever gets them up first is essentially taking up space others may want to use later on. The endgame is probably “make the world dependent on MY sat system and hike rates”. And if the countries wanted to lay cable? Force the world to bail me when the overblown constellations collapse financially - basically make the kessler the future authorities’ problem. Privatise profits, socialise losses, fuck everyone else because I got mine. If things go well the men in charge won’t even be alive anymore when shit hits the fan.

      • Syntha@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        7·
        11 months ago

        There is no real danger of Kessler syndrome because these satellites burn up in the atmosphere after a few years anyways.

      • wahming@monyet.ccEnglish
        2·
        11 months ago

        There are reasons to be concerned about the situation. Kessler syndrome is not one of them, not in LEO

    • ikidd@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      11 months ago

      It’s LEO. If they shut off navigation tomorrow, they’d all be falling cinders in a year.

    • Excrubulent@slrpnk.netEnglish
      31·
      11 months ago

      I’d like to hope that in a few years when we collectively decide this was a bad idea we can start hitting them with lasers and ablatively decelerating them to burn up in the atmosphere.

      I mean I don’t have a lot of hope for that, but call it a wistful fantasy.

      • partial_accumen@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        11 months ago

        I’d like to hope that in a few years when we collectively decide this was a bad idea we can start hitting them with lasers and ablatively decelerating them to burn up in the atmosphere.

        If we do nothing at all they’ll burn up in 3-5 years anyway. Starlink operates in a very low orbit. Thats one of the reasons there have to be so many of them. A higher orbit (like MEO instead of LEO) would mean fewer needed satellites for the same level of coverage of the Earth.

        • Excrubulent@slrpnk.netEnglish
          1·
          11 months ago

          I want to SHOOT THEM DOWN. Send a FUCKING MESSAGE.

          (I know you’re right I’m just a cranky pants)

    • bean@lemmy.worldEnglish
      12·
      11 months ago

      It’s worse than that. The laser communications between them could also cause issues with earth-based systems like observatories.