First, in terms of spectrum, realistically all the satellites in a constellation can (and should) share a small number of relatively narrow frequencies. You can almost imagine it ma be the equivalent of one more cell tower in your area per constellation (at worse).
In terms of space, astronomy aside, the actual space these satellites are flying in are “huge”. As a perspective if you hold your thumb up to the sky, the distance “covered up” by your thumb (if I did my math right) is approximately 480 miles [1]
Yes things travel very quickly at those orbits, but the point is that even if we throw a ton of satellites up, they will remain fairly sparse.
That said, possible reflection and how noticeable they will be, that is a whole other question.
[1] assuming orbits of 366 miles up, higher orbits would be even farther apart
What distance? The distance immediately behind my thumb is about an inch. The distance way back at the edge of the universe is millions of light years
> [1] assuming orbits of 366 miles up, higher orbits would be even farther apart
I sort of see an analogy with airplane or helicopter pilots.
One of the most important things pilots need when they start out is flying time. And flying time costs money. They can be easily talked into things to defray their costs.
I suspect that launching an ISP is defraying costs of developing and launching rockets. $100 LEO hamburgers.
i.e. not (primarily) to "enrich a much smaller set of investors (and particularly Musk)"?
That is to say, by the time their Starlink-esque network would be generating revenue, odds are good AMZN is paying a dividend.
I’ve heard of three companies now that want to achieve this. I’m not sure if there’s anything particularly distinctive about one versus the other, other than SpaceX is the only one with the proven launch capacity to bring that much mass to orbit.
I have a lot less faith in Bezos pulling this off, but mostly it seems a waste to start an ISP just to earn Amazon shareholders a larger dividend.