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Satellites?

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  • skfullgun

    Dances With Snakes
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    Oct 14, 2017
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    Just saw a story on these satellites and their propulsion systems on Xploration Station. Technology has advanced exponentially!
    And yet a primitive virus currently creates havoc on our world.
    Reminds me of the story of Job...
     

    jordanmills

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    When we do a Starlink launch we put up 60 of them at a time. During the first week, they're visible during their orbit raising maneuvers. Once they get to their desired orbit, it's much harder to see them.
    Not any more. Or at least they aren't anywhere near as visible any more. They started the low-albedo coating with the last group, and the magnitudes went from like -2.0 to 3 or 4. Woof.
     

    jordanmills

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    Unfortunately the iridium satellites have all been replaced with seven launches by SpaceX to launch the Iridium NeXT constellation. Iridium flares are a thing of the past.
    I saw one of the last ones late last year without having planned it. Just looked up, saw the flare come in and out, and... that was it. Didn't realize it would be the last one I'd ever see.
     

    DyeF9

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    Not any more. Or at least they aren't anywhere near as visible any more. They started the low-albedo coating with the last group, and the magnitudes went from like -2.0 to 3 or 4. Woof.
    Still visible, but yeah it's not as bright. It's a pretty dark coating. Not quite vantablack, but it's extremely light absorbent.

    On the iridium flare thing, while we were processing the Iridium NeXT vehicles, I made a point to catch as many as I could before they decommissioned their old fleet.
     

    Mills

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    So I read this ....
    The company has applied for permission to launch up to 42,000 satellites.
    Holy cow.
     

    DyeF9

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    Something to consider is that the satellites are very small, and very low (relatively), so they deorbit after a very short duration compared to most communication satellites.

    Most comm sats are in geostationary or geosynchronous orbit and have roughly a 25 year service life and can take several decades to deorbit.

    These will deorbit probably at a rate roughly 5x faster than the service life of that high orbit coms sat.
     

    Oldbluered

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    Oct 18, 2019
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    I think there's too much crap in the sky already, it's been nice seeing less planes lately. SpaceX, OneWeb, TeleSat, and Amazon all plan to launch satellite's for internet purposes. 40,000+ in a few years just for US companies, won't China and Russia want to launch just as many and for a more broad range of reasons.
     

    Wiliamr

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    I remember the first time I saw one on a canoe trip on the Brazos River back in the late '80s. Of course we were in the middle of nowhere so the sky was totally visible and not light-polluted on a clear night. Camping on a sandbar at night, I noticed one non-blinking light moving really fast (at least compared to aircraft) across the sky from right to left and mentioned it to my buddies. None of us back then really knew what to make of it and even speculated it could be a UFO. Wasn't 'til years later that I realized that it was actually a satellite.
    Would that be east to west? Or west to east? Or north to south, or south to north?
     

    DyeF9

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    I think there's too much crap in the sky already, it's been nice seeing less planes lately. SpaceX, OneWeb, TeleSat, and Amazon all plan to launch satellite's for internet purposes. 40,000+ in a few years just for US companies, won't China and Russia want to launch just as many and for a more broad range of reasons.
    Oneweb filed for bankruptcy and is selling off all their assets
     

    Wiliamr

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    Hard to say exactly since it the river is so windy in that stretch. But if my bearings are right, it was moving more north to south.
    Polar orbit, probably a mapping or surveillance satellite. I try to catch any of the ones we can see here in Texas. Also try to catch international space station on ham radio when it comes over. Be well. my friend
     

    jordanmills

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    Still visible, but yeah it's not as bright. It's a pretty dark coating. Not quite vantablack, but it's extremely light absorbent.

    On the iridium flare thing, while we were processing the Iridium NeXT vehicles, I made a point to catch as many as I could before they decommissioned their old fleet.
    I am 90% sure I saw a tumbling old iridium bird last night looking for that comet.
     

    jordanmills

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    Sep 29, 2009
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    Did you spot the comet? Wondering what the best time to look is?
    Nope, haven't seen it yet. I'm pretty close to the middle of Houston, and the effective horizon is pretty high, so I may never see it here. The best time is probably going to be about 20:30-21:00 tonight (trending later with every day, but it will get dimmer every day). It is already pretty dim (observed magnitude looks like 1.6). The real problem with seeing this one is how close it appears to the sun, thus the glare from the sun and twilight glow will overpower it.
     
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