Starlink satellites hindering detection of near-Earth asteroids, study finds

Re:Starlink satellites hindering detection of near-Earth ast... by ErikCorry on Friday January 21, 2022 @08:03AM (#30022884)

There's only 568km from Tonga to Niue, who still have Internet. I wonder if that's close enough to use a hypothetical Niue base station to bounce Internet off a Starlink to Tonga. Might be a little patchy depending on the exact locations of the satellites at any time.

Edit: Looks like Starlink doesn't have great coverage at this latitude anyway, currently: https://findstarlink.com/#4032402;3

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Re:Starlink satellites hindering detection of near-Earth ast... by gpm on Friday January 21, 2022 @05:01PM (#30030531)

The site you're linking to is talking about visible starlink satellites, not starlink coverage.

Starlink is definitely available at that latitude (in the sense that there is signal, not in the sense that SpaceX is currently taking customers or has set up base stations), in the southern hemisphere the only significant landmass that doesn't have more or less constant coverage is Antarctica.

Back when coverage was more spotty, I made this map. I'd probably change some things if I revisited it now that there are lots of satellites up, but it's good enough for demonstrating the point: https://droid.cafe/starlink

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Re:Starlink satellites hindering detection of near-Earth ast... by ErikCorry on Friday January 21, 2022 @05:55PM (#30031022)

Thanks yes I misunderstood the site

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Re:Starlink satellites hindering detection of near-Earth ast... by mr_toad on Friday January 21, 2022 @06:34PM (#30031371)

The satellites have a ground footprint of about 4700km, so if there was a base station in Niue it should be easily in range. From what I’m reading no one on Tonga has a Starlink terminal, and there aren’t any base stations in the pacific.

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