SpaceX launches 3 huge BlueBird direct-to-cell satellites from Florida
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/spacex-falcon-9-bluebird-8-to-10-direct-to-cell-launch
SpaceX launches 3 huge BlueBird direct-to-cell satellites from Florida
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/spacex-falcon-9-bluebird-8-to-10-direct-to-cell-launch
6 Comments
Oh boy. More space junk. Pretty soon they will collide and more space junk and then more space junk and then more space junk! Kessler’s syndrome is getting closer?
It’s just a matter of time before there will be too many satellites. There are around 15,000 active and inactive satellites right now. The space agencies around the world have plans to launch hundreds of thousands of new satellites. Current projections are around over 50,000 new satellites to be launched by 2030! Space X has plans for over 40,000 starlink satilites. There is no (Air traffic control) to avoid these satilites to avoid collisions.
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:
|Fewer Letters|More Letters|
|——-|———|—|
|CST|(Boeing) Crew Space Transportation capsules|
| |Central Standard Time (UTC-6)|
|[ELT](/r/Space/comments/1u8cua6/stub/os8gdgc “Last usage”)|Extremely Large Telescope, under construction in Chile|
|[FAA-AST](/r/Space/comments/1u8cua6/stub/os9vgvc “Last usage”)|Federal Aviation Administration [Administrator for Space Transportation](http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/)|
|[HLS](/r/Space/comments/1u8cua6/stub/os8sqfh “Last usage”)|[Human Landing System](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_program#Human_Landing_System) (Artemis)|
|[JWST](/r/Space/comments/1u8cua6/stub/os8bbmm “Last usage”)|James Webb infra-red Space Telescope|
|[LEO](/r/Space/comments/1u8cua6/stub/os9k3nb “Last usage”)|Low Earth Orbit (180-2000km)|
| |Law Enforcement Officer (most often mentioned during transport operations)|
|Jargon|Definition|
|——-|———|—|
|[Starliner](/r/Space/comments/1u8cua6/stub/os929q6 “Last usage”)|Boeing commercial crew capsule [CST-100](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_CST-100_Starliner)|
|[Starlink](/r/Space/comments/1u8cua6/stub/os9na6g “Last usage”)|SpaceX’s world-wide satellite broadband constellation|
Decronym is now also available on Lemmy! Requests for support and new installations should be directed to the Contact address below.
—————-
^(7 acronyms in this thread; )[^(the most compressed thread commented on today)](/r/Space/comments/1u35fwo)^( has 15 acronyms.)
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Although I think the prospect of straight to mobile satellite connection is something that could be very useful, given and size of the arrays I really hope they succeed in getting the glare under control.
So, at about 3:20 AM CDT last night (this morning, whatever), I saw a bright satellite moving west to east across the sky. What struck me about it wasn’t so much the brightness, but that it was hazy. There were a lot of satellites in the sky last night because we’re getting close to the northern summer solstice so the light rays from the sun are coming in at a very low angle at night. Tis the season (for satellite watching).
Okay, cool. I’ve seen this before. Sometimes when the ISS vents something overboard, it’s surrounded by a cloud of reflective haze. Mystery solved, right? Well, no because I looked up where the ISS was and it was nowhere near me. Odd.
My second thought is that it might be a rocket upper stage.
So I look up recent launches that night and, sure enough, like 50 minutes prior, SpaceX launched something! That’s gotta be it!
But no, they launched from Florida. I wouldn’t have seen it from my location in northeast Kansas.
Except 50 minutes would be enough time for the discarded rocket stage to have done a whole pass around the planet.
So my current working theory is that I saw the upper stage on its way back around the Earth, probably getting ready to burn up over the Atlantic ocean, surrounded by vented gases and propellant which froze in the vacuum creating a reflective haze around it.
What do you all think?
I love how the headline makes it seem like SpaceX is the one operating these satellites. Or developed the tech. Zero credit to the actual company, AST Space Mobile.