Elon Musk’s Starlink and its Side effects on the World
We mostly know Elon Musk to be one who focuses on the future, and on the development of technology in Space, mostly surrounding his company “Space X” that according to its website has accounted for 144 total launches, 106 total landings, and 83 Reflown rockets. However, the environmental, technological, and social effects on the planet Earth and it’s creatures and current systems are often times forgotten when such momentous events filled with grand promises are taking place.
A bit of background: Starlink is one of Musk’s recent projects focusing on faster internet and providing internet access to islands, by using satellites released into Earth’s orbit. The Space X Falcon 9 rocket is helping to bring this system of satellites into the orbit and began in spring of last year. There are many benefits put forth from this project including lower latency or less delays in web browsers loading, allowing your favorite Netflix show to load quicker but the full effects of these projects have not been fully predicted.
The issues surrounding this entire process have become to surface recently as the satellites positioned in South Africa have created a dead zone for anyone living close to them. That means, no cellphone, no internet, and no communication with the outside world as the Satellites interfere. Potentially this means the very opposite of what Musk may be marketing to his consumers and comes at a cost. Another major issue is the interference of these satellites and the signals they omit with satellites currently orbiting (that are unrelated to Musk) such as the blinding of the world’s largest radio telescope, the Square Kilometer Array Observatory or SKAO which is responsible for the search for exoplanets and study of the most far off galaxies which is being disrupted. On another entirely different note, the health effects on people and animals is fairly unstudied and yet to be determined.
According to Di Vruno, “’There are many things that can be done but they always come at some cost,’ Di Vruno said. ‘We already plan to schedule observations to avoid pointing where the satellites are but that's changing a lot [as the satellites move and there are many of them] and is getting more difficult. We also plan to post-process our data and mask out the radio frequency interference but that also means losing data’” Space.com.
Does Elon know what he is getting into? And what exactly can we expect when the full 11, 943 of his satellites are planned to be in orbit by 2025? The future can only tell.
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Musk sees the universe as his playground regardless of the impact that his discoveries could have on the environment. While he could be trying to contribute to a worldwide crisis, perhaps world hunger in this case, I find it difficult to believe that it is all done in good conscience, considering projects such as Star Link carry on despite the lack of understanding of its implications on people and the planet.
Hi Jackson, thank so much for commenting! I took a look at the link you sent and it's such a great article, and a topic I need to look more into. I really never think about satellites and clearly there's alot going on there that is hardly talked about with collisions. Just like we have to pay rent, big billionaires should have to pay space rent almost (haha). I'm surprised that more regulations aren't put in place to limit what's sent up there.
I loved this. I read some statistic that said something Elon Musk did caused more pollution than (I forget the rest). Anyway, I was shocked to hear and I think the discussion of rich men getting away with things needs to be discussed. People deem like they are genius's above our time, but what good is coming from this. Moreover, what example is this setting.
I personally still believe that Starlink is a great invention and can help take less fortunate and less advanced countries to new leaps. When weighing the pros and the cons of this technology, Elon Musk and others need to look at how many dead zones there are versus how many areas have been brought new technology. For example, if a small region in South Africa is the only dead zone and there are hundreds of areas with improved reception, internet, etc. then it is worth it. In addition, maybe there is a way to decrease space debris coming from Starlink, or at least I hope there is.
I think you hit the nail on the head here. More people/governments should speak out against billionaires treating space like a new playground for them to colonize and capitalize upon. Aside from the threats you mentioned (which hilariously defeat the very reason for the additional satellites) threats like space debris may actually make all space exploration and utilization far more difficult in the near future. I cannot think of a worse fate for our species than to be trapped on earth with the likes of Musk and Bezos for all eternity.
More on space debris: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.2968/066002001#:~:text=The%20danger%20to%20orbiting%20satellites,tests%20still%20pose%20serious%20threats.&text=In%20peacetime%2C%20the%20consequences%20include,gap%20in%20satel%2D%20lite%20services.