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From: Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: "SpaceX: Lowering Starlink Satellite Orbits Reduces Impact on
 Astronomy"
Date: Thu, 9 Jan 2025 22:34:07 -0600
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On 1/9/2025 9:26 PM, Cryptoengineer wrote:
> On 1/9/2025 6:02 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
>> "SpaceX: Lowering Starlink Satellite Orbits Reduces Impact on Astronomy"
>>
>> https://www.pcmag.com/news/spacex-lowering-starlink-satellite-orbits- 
>> reduces-impact-on-astronomy
>>
>> “The company has been working with an observatory and the US National 
>> Science Foundation to study the effects of lowering its satellites to 
>> 350km (217 miles) versus 550km.”
>>
>> Incoming, everybody duck !
> 
> That's kind of the idea. They want the satellites low enough that even
> if one goes completely dead, it will re-enter naturally after about 6
> years.
> 
> The satellites are designed so that they *should* burn up completely
> on re-entry.
> 
> At the moment, the second stage of the Dragon booster does have
> parts that can reach the ground, but they try to de-orbit them over
> the south pacific, near Point Nemo. If/when SpaceX shifts to the
> Starship, this will no longer be an issue.
> 
> pt

The lower the orbit, the lower the latency.

My time to Starlink right now is 20 ms.  Pretty good.

Lynn