SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites – for 100x the bandwidth

Re:SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites – fo... by csallen on Saturday July 11, 2026 @02:26AM (#48869337)

A gigantic source of light in the sky that lights up a part of the Earth and is too bright to look at is... the sun. I think we're all used to the sun.

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Re:SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites – fo... by pastel8739 on Saturday July 11, 2026 @03:46AM (#48869754)

I personally am _not_ used to seeing the sun after sunset and before sunrise.

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Re:SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites – fo... by dnel on Saturday July 11, 2026 @04:23AM (#48869999)

Neither is nature, this sounds like an environmental disaster waiting to happen

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Re:SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites – fo... by csallen on Saturday July 11, 2026 @07:04AM (#48870913)

Solar panels aren't nature. Shining lights on solar panels is not going to be an environmental disaster.

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Re:SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites – fo... by jack_pp on Saturday July 11, 2026 @05:19AM (#48870286)

considering plants grow just fine with grow lights, they don't really care. same with co2, they LOVE CO2

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Re:SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites – fo... by jurgenburgen on Saturday July 11, 2026 @06:53AM (#48870828)

> they LOVE CO2

Plants can absorb some more CO2 and it improves their growth slightly but saying they LOVE CO2 is an exaggeration.

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Re:SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites – fo... by KeplerBoy on Saturday July 11, 2026 @07:41AM (#48871159)

They turn it into sugar, what's not to love?

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Re:SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites – fo... by iamacyborg on Saturday July 11, 2026 @05:21AM (#48870298)

Nature is more than just plants.

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Re:SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites – fo... by _vertigo on Saturday July 11, 2026 @02:41AM (#48869411)

everyone’s seen ads before, mind if I put a giant ad in the sky for everyone to look at?

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Re:SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites – fo... by orlp on Saturday July 11, 2026 @04:16AM (#48869960)

Don't give these ghouls ideas.

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Re:SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites – fo... by fragmede on Saturday July 11, 2026 @06:02AM (#48870511)

The idea of putting a PepsiCo or Coca-Cola ad on the moon dates backs to the 60's, when we first went there.

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Re:SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites – fo... by digitaltrees on Saturday July 11, 2026 @03:39PM (#48875098)

If one person owned the sun and could charge all humanity for access to its light then maybe that would be a relevant example

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Re:SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites – fo... by csallen on Sunday July 12, 2026 @02:12AM (#48878781)

What do you think is being proposed, exactly? Some sort of alternative sun that's going to shine on the entire earth, that we'll all be forced to look at?

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Re:SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites – fo... by digitaltrees on Monday July 13, 2026 @01:44PM (#48896174)

No. I used a rhetorical device to highlight a theoretical monopoly we assume would never exist. But imagine I launch a space sail that can cast a shadow on any part of earth I chose. I could block or unblock sunlight at will and grant access only for paying customers.

Is that something that should be permitted?

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