Starlink lost 40 satellites to a geomagnetic storm

Re:Starlink lost 40 satellites to a geomagnetic storm by kant_adorn_arts on Tuesday February 08, 2022 @11:03PM (#30268655)

Is the manufacture of biofuels actually carbon neutral? What about the massive deforestation of Indonesia - caused by Germany's biofuel mandate?

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Re:Starlink lost 40 satellites to a geomagnetic storm by kant_adorn_arts on Tuesday February 08, 2022 @11:36PM (#30268872)

or is it not a biofuel? are they using the Sabatier reaction so they just need energy input (could be solar)?

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Re:Starlink lost 40 satellites to a geomagnetic storm by gpm on Wednesday February 09, 2022 @12:32AM (#30269246)

Yes, the stated goal is the sabatier reaction from solar energy.

The apparent purpose of this is pretty much a tech-demo for mars. In terms of minimizing environmental impact on earth it would pretty clearly be better just to send the solar energy to the grid and divert natural gas that would have gone to generating electricity to launching rockets.

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Re:Starlink lost 40 satellites to a geomagnetic storm by ctdonath on Wednesday February 09, 2022 @02:08PM (#30276967)

In context - using solar energy to extract atmospheric CO2 and manufacture methane - yes.

We're not discussing "massive deforestation" here. Germany's biofuel mandate does not affect rockets in Texas.

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Re:Starlink lost 40 satellites to a geomagnetic storm by MPSimmons on Wednesday February 09, 2022 @12:16AM (#30269143)

Does shipping a rocket to Mars with enough propellant to make the trip and land when it gets there affect the balance?

Every rocket to Mars carries hydrocarbon that will never come back.

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