Pretty amazing, I think. They have 6,000 of them up there now, and more to come. They burn in every five years so there is a constant opportunity to improve and upgrade. I think they went with Low Earth Orbit to minimize latency and optimize for gaming.
You can get a live display and more info here: https://www.heavens-above.com/StarLink.aspx
RFI for radio astronomers
ReplyDeletehttps://www.space.com/starlink-electronics-hum-disturbs-radio-astronomy
Starlink is licensed for 12000 and is applying for 45000. They are only one of several companies aiming for the market, and the commercial use of space is pretty much wide open. However, the constellation provides significant radio frequency interference to radio astronomy protected bands and is partially blinding ionospheric radars monitoring low Earth orbit. Alas, it's not all benefits. de W1PJE
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