Daniel Suarez’s latest book, Delta-V, is great read - lots about the junk in orbit, the futility of Mars, and the viability of asteroid mining. Even has a Musk type ‘hero’. dve west
On Mon, May 27, 2019, at 9:12 PM, Steven A Smith wrote: > > <another long-winded anecdote> > I was born "under the rising sign of Sputnik" in 1957 (S1 & S2 went up late > that year). I was just about 1 year old when Explorer 1 and then Vanguard 1 > went up in early 1958. Vanguard 1, 2, 3 are still up there, being in an > unusually high orbit for the time. The crowdsource Moonwatch > <https://www.universetoday.com/100744/citizen-science-old-school-style-the-true-tale-of-operation-moonwatch/> > project was already developing and was used to try to track/find Vanguard, > but the first siting of an artificial satellite was of Sputnik. Ham radio > folks were tracking the radio signals, but visual siting (telescope or > binoculars) was much trickier. > > Some here were born early enough to have been young adults at that time and > probably have first-hand memories of these events, and perhaps even > attempting their own observations? My first experience with direct satellite > observation was *probably* when the Echo > <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Echo>"satelloons" were up. At roughly > 100' diameter with a deliberately reflective surface (passive microwave > relays), they were apparently highly visible to the naked eye. > We've come a long way baby! </anecdote> > <speculation> We (humans collectively) now have something approaching 10,000 > satellites or fragments in orbit... one man's "trash" is another man's > "treasure" of course. I haven't heard Musk announce a SpaceX "Salvage > Operation" yet, but at some point, that seems like a viable business, given > the expense of launch... the materials in derelict satellites would seem to > be valuable once a method for "recycling" those materials could be developed. > I believe we are still in the early stages of a "radiation" of design-species > in satellites, not having settled on any specific body plan and functional > conceit... some might eventually depend on a modest amount of "foraging" once > in orbit? > Delta-V is clearly the most valuable resource which for all but > solar/mag-sail propulsion depends on reaction mass... which suggests turning > "big ones into little ones" with space junk (grapefruit to bus-sized objects) > into streams of (ionized) particles as small as individual molecules. > Variations on "tether" and "sail" technology also may be good uses of > captured "space junk". A big challenge to all this is the orbital mechanics > sophistication to use less DeltaV matching orbits to "catch" junk than is > gained by capturing it. Oh yeh... and still do something actually useful > besides just wander around eating and pooping things. > <speculation> > > On 5/27/19 10:09 AM, Owen Densmore wrote: >> A TLDR post. It points to a video of the "train" but brings up problems with >> the eventual number of the critters. >> >> -- Owen >> Sightings of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites spark awe — and astronomical angst >> (3 minute read) >> <https://tracking.tldrnewsletter.com/CL0/https:%2F%2Fwww.geekwire.com%2F2019%2Fsightings-spacexs-starlink-satellites-spark-awe-astronomical-angst%2F/1/0100016af8bd48bf-94af9903-5a99-4bdc-914c-330937053b7f-000000/1p5yHFi__nt-eWCq_QXyb1VvhqluhaiG5EZV4OIiDqY=90> >> SpaceX has launched 60 of its Starlink broadband satellites into the sky, >> creating a chain of satellites that could be observed by enthusiasts in a >> number of locations around the world. Some astronomers have expressed >> concern that the brightness from the satellites will interfere with >> observations of the night sky, especially when all 11,000 satellites are >> deployed. Elon Musk has confirmed that the satellites will be dark when the >> stars are visible. >> >> On Mon, May 27, 2019 at 9:57 AM Stephen Guerin <[email protected]> >> wrote: >>> Any idea on how far separated ground cameras would need to to get >>> triangulate 3d using a shift in the apparent RA and declination of the >>> background start field? >>> >>> On Mon, May 27, 2019, 8:49 AM Roger Critchlow <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> The prediction has shifted to a few minutes earlier tonight, appears >>>> 20h53, disappears 21h04, track passes close to Vega then close to >>>> Arcturus. >>>> >>>> -- rec -- >>>> >>>> On Sun, May 26, 2019 at 10:15 PM Roger Critchlow <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>> They were early, about 21h40m at the meridian, three were bright from 45d >>>>> altitude, others may have flickered into visibility or may have been my >>>>> imagination. >>>>> >>>>> The predicted pass in Santa Fe for Monday the 27th of May is from >>>>> 21h01m10s to 21h12m23s, from SW to NE again, passing close to Vega. Give >>>>> yourself some slack on the time, the speed depends on the altitude and >>>>> the satellites are supposed to be boosting higher ever 90 minutes. >>>>> >>>>> -- rec -- >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> On Sun, May 26, 2019 at 12:03 PM Roger Critchlow <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>>> According to calsky.com the trail of the 60 starlink satellites rises in >>>>>> Santa Fe this evening at 21h40m28s in the SW and sets at 21h51m43s in >>>>>> the NE. They are 8.5mag at the horizon which is too dim to see, but they >>>>>> should reach 4.7mag at the meridian at 21h46m17s. Looks like they'll >>>>>> pass close to the last star in the big dipper's handle. >>>>>> >>>>>> -- rec -- >>>>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> Wedtech mailing list >>>> [email protected] >>>> http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/wedtech_redfish.com >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Wedtech mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/wedtech_redfish.com >> >> _______________________________________________ Wedtech mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/wedtech_redfish.com >> > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove >
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove
