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A comment on Starlink satellites hindering detection of near-Earth asteroids, study finds. Parent comment

Re:Starlink satellites hindering detection of near-Earth ast... by leobg on Friday January 21, 2022 @07:30AM (#30022502)
Are you sure? AFAIK the laser links are just needed to further reduce latency. I don’t think SpaceX needs any ground stations. Elon even talked about governments in countries like Afghanistan not being able to do anything against their citizens using Starlink apart from “shaking their fists at the sky”.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Starlink satellites hindering detection of near-Earth ast... by Thervicarl on Friday January 21, 2022 @07:37AM (#30022560)
> I don’t think SpaceX needs any ground stations

It is not magic. You signal from the user terminal has to reach a ground station / gateway connected to the Internet. Either there are inter-satellite links and the signal can be routed to a gateway far away. Or there are not and the gateway need to be at most a few hundred kilometers away if you satellites are in orbit at 400km.

> Afghanistan not being able to do anything against their citizens using Starlink apart from “shaking their fists at the sky”.

Or sentence to death people caught with a Starlink dish on their roof.

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Re:Starlink satellites hindering detection of near-Earth ast... by leobg on Friday January 21, 2022 @07:39AM (#30022590)
You are right.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Starlink satellites hindering detection of near-Earth ast... by emteycz on Friday January 21, 2022 @07:34AM (#30022524)
A ground station is required in the current version of Starlink. Without it, the satellite has no internet connection to offer to clients.
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Re:Starlink satellites hindering detection of near-Earth ast... by leobg on Friday January 21, 2022 @07:37AM (#30022566)
Ah. Of course. A ground station within the visibility cone of the individual satellite. You are right!
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Re:Starlink satellites hindering detection of near-Earth ast... by cool_dude85 on Friday January 21, 2022 @07:36AM (#30022553)
Damn, Elon was telling a stupid lie? Consider me shocked. Anyway, when's your dancing robot coming? Mine's about to ship.
[ Parent | on HN ]