NASA says SpaceX satellites could kill astronauts and threaten Earth

[question everything]

SpaceX could be on the receiving end of some bad news soon. A letter from NASA has surfaced which shares concerns that the SpaceX plan for Starlink Gen2 could endanger astronauts. NASA also says it could endanger people on Earth, too.

The letter was spotted by CNBC space reporter Michael Sheetz and SpaceNews. The five-page letter was submitted to the Federal Communications Commission on February 8, 2022. It was submitted by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration on NASA’s behalf. SpaceX shared new plans for the launch of Starlink’s second-generation satellites earlier this year. The new plan would see SpaceX’s Starship taking the 30,000 satellites needed for Gen 2 up to orbit. Based on the new letter, NASA looks to be pushing back, citing possible risks to its ongoing missions and even human life.

One of the main concerns stemming from the letter appears to be low Earth orbit congestion. NASA reports its already tracking over 25,000 objects in orbit. Of those, around 6,100 have a perigee below 600 km. An object’s perigee is the point that it is closest to the Earth in its orbit. Because so many share a similar point, it has the potential to create more congestion. NASA says adding more SpaceX satellites to orbit would increase the number of items with that kind of perigee exponentially. The risk here is that NASA missions (and missions by other agencies) may have to shift course to avoid hitting SpaceX satellites.

SpaceX satellites should feature auto-maneuver capabilities. As such, collision courses shouldn’t be much concern, right? I mean, that should allow them to move out of the way of any other spacecraft they might share a collision course with. However, NASA says that the claim “lacks statistical substantiation”. Additionally, NASA says SpaceX can’t assure 100 percent reliability. The organization also has a history of refusing to move its satellites when they might collide with others. Which raises even more concerns.

More..

https://bgr.com/science/nasa-says-spacex-satellites-could-kill-astronauts-and-threaten-earth/

[stopdiggin]

1. Good! Bring the cowboys to heel.

"The organization also has a history of refusing to move its satellites when they might collide with others."

In other words - can, but won't. If you can't learn to play nicely with others - out of the sandbox!

[LastDemocratInSC]

2. Tens of thousands of internet satellites in LEO

launched by Musk or Bezos or anyone else for their own personal profit, regardless of the benefit to those who have no internet access, present a risk to everyday access to space. One cascading collision event would be a disaster; more than one would be a calamity to the rest of us who might desire a safe path to orbit.

As is always true, greed by oligarchs is a factor that limits the financial advantages of everyday citizens.

[stopdiggin]

3. sooner or later humans will (re)learn

the principle that just because a resource is plentiful (water, the sea, the air) does not mean that you can endlessly pollute it without consequence. (usually increasingly dire)

the separate problem of robber barons (tech barons) branches off in a slightly different direction - but both stem from the same root of resource,and access to resource - and both will only ever be addressed through a collective response.
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[PortTack]

4. I do just despise these idiots getting in the way of science! to say nothing of the safety issues

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

5. Who gave Elon permission to put 30.000 satellites in LEO?

Is it something you get to do because you're unbelievably rich? With so many satellites future launches will have to "thread the needle" to get into orbit.