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Cyclopath
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Cyclopath
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PostTue Feb 25, 2020 11:56 am 
RumiDude wrote:
satelite phones are the next big likely leap forward in inexpensive communications
I'm pretty sure this is going to be the case. Over the next few years we'll launch many times more satellites than we have orbiting now. A lot are designed to bring the internet to remote places.

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graywolf
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PostTue Feb 25, 2020 1:03 pm 
Cyclopath wrote:
RumiDude wrote:
satelite phones are the next big likely leap forward in inexpensive communications
I'm pretty sure this is going to be the case. Over the next few years we'll launch many times more satellites than we have orbiting now. A lot are designed to bring the internet to remote places.
My wife and I camped at Fort Flagler last week. Just before 6:00 am on Thursday the 20th, we observed a string of lights, at very high altitude, traversing the sky from NW to SE. We counted 20 lights, all evenly spaced, with a few to the side of the "train". I talked to a park employee about it, and nothing was on the news. Later that day, he said that his wife did some searching and found a report of a similar string of lights over Florida. When we got home I did some searching and found out they were SpaceX Starlink communication satelites, Elon Musk's project. So yeah, satellite communication is coming to the masses, eventually.

The only easy day was yesterday...
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Randito
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PostTue Feb 25, 2020 2:37 pm 
SPOT Gen3 is now just $149.

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Cyclopath
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Cyclopath
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PostTue Feb 25, 2020 3:19 pm 
It's not really what the hardware costs, it's the (recurring) fee to access satellite communications. Right now there isn't a lot of competition, this is a niche sector of the overall economy. SpaceX is launching communications satellites, their constellation will eventually have up to 42,000. By the end of this year, Starlink will have 1,500 satellites in orbit; there are only about 3,000 satellites now, total. Amazon and OneWeb have similar long term plans. Iridium is 66 active satellites. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanocallaghan/2019/11/18/this-is-not-coolastronomers-despair-as-spacex-starlink-train-ruins-observation-of-nearby-galaxies/amp/

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iron
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PostTue Feb 25, 2020 4:31 pm 
Cyclopath wrote:
RumiDude wrote:
satelite phones are the next big likely leap forward in inexpensive communications
I'm pretty sure this is going to be the case. Over the next few years we'll launch many times more satellites than we have orbiting now. A lot are designed to bring the internet to remote places.
and nighttime skies will be forever ruined. perhaps the last thing that wasn't blatantly disfigured by mankind. sure hope there isn't a collision that fulfills kessler's syndrome.

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Slugman
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PostTue Feb 25, 2020 5:01 pm 
I believe the goal is to eliminate the cell tower altogether. Give everyone everywhere the ability to communicate and access the internet. Astronomers should be using instruments in space anyway. The price of doing that should be plummeting.

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graywolf
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PostTue Feb 25, 2020 5:11 pm 
iron wrote:
Cyclopath wrote:
RumiDude wrote:
satelite phones are the next big likely leap forward in inexpensive communications
I'm pretty sure this is going to be the case. Over the next few years we'll launch many times more satellites than we have orbiting now. A lot are designed to bring the internet to remote places.
and nighttime skies will be forever ruined. perhaps the last thing that wasn't blatantly disfigured by mankind. sure hope there isn't a collision that fulfills kessler's syndrome.
Yeah, when I saw the parade of satellites and didn't know what it was, part of me was hoping it was a bunch of UFOs. When I found what it was, and how many satellites would eventually be in orbit, I was really disappointed.

The only easy day was yesterday...
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Stefan
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PostTue Feb 25, 2020 7:31 pm 
Lots happening up the Duckabush this month...things come in threes...one more needed. About the satellites....here is what looks to be happening....it occurs at the 18 second mark: Break through the satellites in leaving earth

Art is an adventure.
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Anne Elk
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PostTue Feb 25, 2020 11:10 pm 
Speaking of accidents in the Olympics, I wonder how Aaron Brengle is doing? The peeps running his GoFundMe haven't been updating.

"There are yahoos out there. It’s why we can’t have nice things." - Tom Mahood
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Cyclopath
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PostTue Feb 25, 2020 11:20 pm 
iron wrote:
and nighttime skies will be forever ruined. perhaps the last thing that wasn't blatantly disfigured by mankind. sure hope there isn't a collision that fulfills kessler's syndrome.
The ones SpaceX has been sending up are especially reflective, so they look extra bright against the sky. All in a line.

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moonspots
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PostWed Feb 26, 2020 8:25 am 
iron wrote:
and nighttime skies will be forever ruined. perhaps the last thing that wasn't blatantly disfigured by mankind.
This! ^ I see no good use for these things. I couldn't care less about having internet in the wilderness. And I like looking at a dark night sky, now that's been taken away, and for no legitimately good reason....

"Out, OUT you demons of Stupidity"! - St Dogbert, patron Saint of Technology
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ChanceShowers
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PostWed Feb 26, 2020 10:12 am 
But is everyday satellite communications from a mobile phone even practical on a mass scale? Won't the uplink power requirements drain the phone's battery way too quickly? Let alone that satellites have a big footprint and don't allow for frequency re-use the way it is done in terrestrial mobile networks. Is there even the data capacity for mass use?

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Slugman
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PostWed Feb 26, 2020 10:25 am 
Ah, the tinfoil hat brigade is out in force, hating what they know nothing about. No more dark skies because of a few tiny dots? Hahahaha! Dumbest thing ever written. Our whole civilization has destroyed dark night skies a thousand times worse already, much of the light pollution serving no useful purpose. It’s amazing to me that people complain from a standpoint of complete ignorance. They hate something even when they don’t even know what it can do or what it’s for.

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iron
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PostWed Feb 26, 2020 10:54 am 
Slugman wrote:
Dumbest thing ever written
sorry. the dumbest thing ever written normally comes after you hit 'submit'. read and provide counterarguments. https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starlink-satellites-risks-astronomy-space-junk-2019-11 the pros/cons of this simply doesn't pencil.

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fourteen410
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PostWed Feb 26, 2020 11:03 am 
moonspots wrote:
I like looking at a dark night sky, now that's been taken away, and for no legitimately good reason....
Saving lives isn't a good enough reason for you?

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