La course aux mégaconstellations explose : Starlink domine déjà avec ~7 500 satellites, mais Kuiper, OneWeb et les chinois Guowang/Qianfan entrent dans l’arène. Enjeux : connectivité mondiale, débris orbital, pollution lumineuse.
🔗 https://www.lefigaro.fr/sciences/starlink-kuiper-oneweb-guowang-la-course-aux-megaconstellations-s-accelere-20250614
#Mégaconstellations #Starlink #Kuiper #OneWeb #Guowang #ConnectivitéSpatiale
#Megaconstellations
Ultra-Black Paint May Solve Satellite Pollution Crisis https://petapixel.com/2025/06/13/ultra-black-paint-may-solve-satellite-pollution-crisis/ #megaconstellations #starlinksatellites #astrophotography #lightpollution #astronomy #satellite #Space #News
Logos nets $50 million to advance plans for more than 4,000 broadband satellites
China launches fourth group of Guowang megaconstellation satellites
@sundogplanets Yes, and that's a reason why #Megaconstellations like it (and others as well as predecessors like #ICO) are garbage.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pendrell_Corporation
Compare that to say #Iridium which launched with 77 satellites and those lasted 25 years, way longer than scheduled, and got recently replaced with a new generation instead...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridium_Communications
- Granted even Iridium required bailouts and basically catering to the #US military & intelligence market with their #PTT offerings that unlike #UHFSATCOM at least have #encryption on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQhE8ylRj00
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OONzbJ2tbhA
Not to mention #Starlink is a #SpectrumPollutant and can only serve as means to #sabotage #Fiber deployment #ROI espechally in rural areas, thus increasing #DigitalDivide further by making #FTTB & #FTTH buildups (even with government subsidies) harder to justify.
✨🛰️✨ All current satellite data sets have been updated. ✨🛰️✨
#Astrophotography #Satellite #Starlink #SpaceX #OneWeb #ProjectKuiper #MegaConstellations #Astronomy #NASA
“The results presented above suggest these perceived benefits for constellations at low LEO altitudes may not be realised. The large numbers of satellites within these constellations and the extended period over which the constellations are maintained by replenishing satellites – potentially over many decades – will mean that an unstable or even runaway environment at low LEO altitudes will continue to be a possibility.”
#SpaceDebris #SpaceEnvironment #Space #Satellites #Megaconstellations
A couple of abstracts relevant to the space environment from the upcoming European Geosciences Union (Vienna, 27 April–2 May 2025):
“Defining the environmental impacts of satellite megaconstellation missions in a rapidly growing space sector” https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU25/EGU25-17301.html
“Survey of the estimated mass of ablated material and intact debris from ‘end-of-life’ LEO spacecraft entering the atmosphere” https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU25/EGU25-12796.html
#Space #Spacecraft #SpaceEnvironment #Atmosphere #Environment #EnvironmentalImpact #LEO #Megaconstellations
Three pieces by @Nature today on dark and quiet skies.
A news feature looking at the state of solutions for satellite constellations:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00792-y
A related Editorial:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00788-8
And a Comment piece by two experts on the risk of space debris hitting the ground:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00797-7
#Space #SpaceEnvironment #Megaconstellations #Satellites #SpaceDebris #DarkAndQuietSkies
✨🛰️✨ All current satellite datasets have been updated. ✨🛰️✨
#Astrophotography #Satellite #Starlink #SpaceX #OneWeb #ProjectKuiper #MegaConstellations #Astronomy #NASA
China set to launch first Guowang megaconstellation satellites on Long March 5B
None of these are short term solutions. (P.S. If it sounds like science fiction, it might be science fiction.) In the mean time, launch rates continue to rise unabated.
#megaconstellations
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/tech/can-we-solve-the-satellite-air-pollution-problem-here-are-4-possible-fixes
This initiative completely flew under my radar, but happy to see it.
#megaconstellations
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/satellites/astronomers-urge-fcc-to-halt-satellite-megaconstellation-launches
Space/Atmosphere Environment
The FCC has not been considering the potential harm done to Earth's atmosphere due to deorbited satellite debris, in licence applications since 1986.
From The Register (news site)
One hundred and twenty astronomy researchers on Thursday sent a letter asking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to end the "absurd" environmental review exemption given to SpaceX's Starlink and other firms launching large constellations of satellites.
[...] Sierra Solter-Hunt, a physicist with aerospace consultancy Astroplane [...] suggests this could alter the environment of Earth to the detriment of human health.
"It is known that man-made chemicals can endanger the atmosphere, and the mega-constellations are not just depositing dangerous chemicals, they are depositing huge masses of conductive material."
Read full article:
https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/24/scientists_fcc_tests_satellite_impact/
✨🛰️✨ All current satellite data sets have been updated. ✨🛰️✨
#Astrophotography #Satellite #Starlink #SpaceX #OneWeb #ProjectKuiper #MegaConstellations #Astronomy #NASA
Somehow missed this, but worth reposting here.
https://www.space.com/montreal-protocol-satellites-air-pollution
Le journal de l’Espace
Il faut qu’on parle des MEGACONSTELLATIONS : la BOMBE à retardement
https://mcinformactions.net/il-faut-qu-on-parle-des-megaconstellations-la-bombe-a-retardement
#megaconstellations
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