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Related: About this forumSpaceX's Starlink satellites will soon get glare-reducing 'sunshades,' Elon Musk says
By Mike Wall - Space.com Senior Writer 5 hours ago
A photograph showing SpaceX's first batch of Starlink satellites during launch on May 23, 2019.
(Image: © SpaceX)
SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites will soon sport an accessory to tamp down their surprising brightness.
That brightness worries many astronomers, who say that the huge Starlink constellation could seriously disrupt a variety of scientific observations. And Starlink will indeed be huge, if all goes according to SpaceX's plan: The company has approval to launch 12,000 craft to low Earth orbit (LEO) and has applied for permission to loft 30,000 more. (For perspective, humanity has launched just 9,400 objects to orbit since the dawn of the space age in 1957).
SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has said that the company will find a way to make Starlink craft fade from scientists' sight, predicting that the constellation will end up having no impact whatsoever on astronomical discoveries. SpaceX has been working with the astronomical community to help make this happen, researchers say, and the company has already tried out some mitigation measures.
For example, one of the 60 Starlink satellites that launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket this past January sported an experimental coating to make it less reflective. Observations show that this "DarkSat" is considerably dimmer than its brighter Starlink cohorts, but probably not dim enough to quell most astronomers' concerns about the megaconstellation.
More:
https://www.livescience.com/spacex-starlink-satellites-sunshades.html
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SpaceX's Starlink satellites will soon get glare-reducing 'sunshades,' Elon Musk says (Original Post)
Judi Lynn
Apr 2020
OP
2naSalit
(86,061 posts)1. Who gave him a permit to
put all that shit in the sky? I see those fucking things every night that I go out and look at the sky. And there's only about 120 of them right now. I have come to really hate seeing them. I want to be able to see the sky without a bunch of crap flying by like flies on cattle.
And so how's he going to tone down the shine on the 100+ pieces of crap already up there? If he's going to gather them up, I would prefer he just take them down permanently. I object to the whole project.
Blues Heron
(5,898 posts)2. hopefully they'll all burn up soon
who needs this pie in the sky crap. Arent' we connected yet? How much more money does this prick need to feed his limitless ego?