[FRIAM] starlink trail
Steven A Smith
sasmyth at swcp.com
Tue May 28 10:20:33 EDT 2019
Dave -
Thanks for the reference. I was literally *dreaming* in orbital
mechanics for several months last summer. I'm not sure what that was
about except maybe being a 21st generation variation on the running,
swimming, skipping, swinging, careening, flying dreams that were common
in my childhood.
Hope things are going well over there in the shadow of windmills...
- Steve
> Daniel Suarez’s latest book, Delta-V, is great read - lots about the
> junk in orbit, the futility of Mars, and the viability of asteroid
> mining. Even has a Musk type ‘hero’.
> dve west
>
>
> On Mon, May 27, 2019, at 9:12 PM, Steven A Smith wrote:
>>
>> <another long-winded anecdote>
>> I was born "under the rising sign of Sputnik" in 1957 (S1 & S2 went
>> up late that year). I was just about 1 year old when Explorer 1 and
>> then Vanguard 1 went up in early 1958. Vanguard 1, 2, 3 are still up
>> there, being in an unusually high orbit for the time. The
>> crowdsource Moonwatch
>> <https://www.universetoday.com/100744/citizen-science-old-school-style-the-true-tale-of-operation-moonwatch/>
>> project was already developing and was used to try to track/find
>> Vanguard, but the first siting of an artificial satellite was of
>> Sputnik. Ham radio folks were tracking the radio signals, but visual
>> siting (telescope or binoculars) was much trickier.
>>
>> Some here were born early enough to have been young adults at that
>> time and probably have first-hand memories of these events, and
>> perhaps even attempting their own observations? My first experience
>> with direct satellite observation was *probably* when the Echo
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Echo>"satelloons" were up. At
>> roughly 100' diameter with a deliberately reflective surface (passive
>> microwave relays), they were apparently highly visible to the naked eye.
>>
>> We've come a long way baby! </anecdote>
>>
>> <speculation> We (humans collectively) now have something
>> approaching 10,000 satellites or fragments in orbit... one man's
>> "trash" is another man's "treasure" of course. I haven't heard Musk
>> announce a SpaceX "Salvage Operation" yet, but at some point, that
>> seems like a viable business, given the expense of launch... the
>> materials in derelict satellites would seem to be valuable once a
>> method for "recycling" those materials could be developed. I
>> believe we are still in the early stages of a "radiation" of
>> design-species in satellites, not having settled on any specific body
>> plan and functional conceit... some might eventually depend on a
>> modest amount of "foraging" once in orbit?
>>
>> Delta-V is clearly the most valuable resource which for all but
>> solar/mag-sail propulsion depends on reaction mass... which suggests
>> turning "big ones into little ones" with space junk (grapefruit to
>> bus-sized objects) into streams of (ionized) particles as small as
>> individual molecules. Variations on "tether" and "sail" technology
>> also may be good uses of captured "space junk". A big challenge to
>> all this is the orbital mechanics sophistication to use less DeltaV
>> matching orbits to "catch" junk than is gained by capturing it. Oh
>> yeh... and still do something actually useful besides just wander
>> around eating and pooping things.
>>
>> <speculation>
>>
>>
>> On 5/27/19 10:09 AM, Owen Densmore wrote:
>>> A TLDR post. It points to a video of the "train" but brings up
>>> problems with the eventual number of the critters.
>>>
>>> -- Owen
>>>
>>> Sightings of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites spark awe — and
>>> astronomical angst (3 minute read)
>>> <https://tracking.tldrnewsletter.com/CL0/https:%2F%2Fwww.geekwire.com%2F2019%2Fsightings-spacexs-starlink-satellites-spark-awe-astronomical-angst%2F/1/0100016af8bd48bf-94af9903-5a99-4bdc-914c-330937053b7f-000000/1p5yHFi__nt-eWCq_QXyb1VvhqluhaiG5EZV4OIiDqY=90>
>>>
>>> SpaceX has launched 60 of its Starlink broadband satellites into the
>>> sky, creating a chain of satellites that could be observed by
>>> enthusiasts in a number of locations around the world. Some
>>> astronomers have expressed concern that the brightness from the
>>> satellites will interfere with observations of the night sky,
>>> especially when all 11,000 satellites are deployed. Elon Musk has
>>> confirmed that the satellites will be dark when the stars are visible.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, May 27, 2019 at 9:57 AM Stephen Guerin
>>> <redfishgroupllc at gmail.com <mailto:redfishgroupllc at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Any idea on how far separated ground cameras would need to to
>>> get triangulate 3d using a shift in the apparent RA and
>>> declination of the background start field?
>>>
>>> On Mon, May 27, 2019, 8:49 AM Roger Critchlow <rec at elf.org
>>> <mailto:rec at elf.org>> wrote:
>>>
>>> The prediction has shifted to a few minutes earlier tonight,
>>> appears 20h53, disappears 21h04, track passes close to Vega
>>> then close to Arcturus.
>>>
>>> -- rec --
>>>
>>> On Sun, May 26, 2019 at 10:15 PM Roger Critchlow
>>> <rec at elf.org <mailto:rec at elf.org>> wrote:
>>>
>>> They were early, about 21h40m at the meridian, three
>>> were bright from 45d altitude, others may have flickered
>>> into visibility or may have been my imagination.
>>>
>>> The predicted pass in Santa Fe for Monday the 27th of
>>> May is from 21h01m10s to 21h12m23s, from SW to NE again,
>>> passing close to Vega. Give yourself some slack on the
>>> time, the speed depends on the altitude and the
>>> satellites are supposed to be boosting higher ever 90
>>> minutes.
>>>
>>> -- rec --
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sun, May 26, 2019 at 12:03 PM Roger Critchlow
>>> <rec at elf.org <mailto:rec at elf.org>> wrote:
>>>
>>> According to calsky.com <http://calsky.com> the
>>> trail of the 60 starlink satellites rises in Santa
>>> Fe this evening at 21h40m28s in the SW and sets
>>> at 21h51m43s in the NE. They are 8.5mag at the
>>> horizon which is too dim to see, but they should
>>> reach 4.7mag at the meridian at 21h46m17s. Looks
>>> like they'll pass close to the last star in the big
>>> dipper's handle.
>>>
>>> -- rec --
>>>
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>
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