[ExI] [Extropolis] The Starlink-Ukraine Scandal, Phase 2

[spike at rainier66.com]

From: ddraig at pobox.com <ddraig at gmail.com> 
Subject: Re: [Extropolis] The Starlink-Ukraine Scandal, Phase 2

 



On Tuesday, 27 October 2026, <spike at rainier66.com <mailto:spike at rainier66.com> > wrote:

Dwayne, if StarLink is seen as a military system, the commies might consider it fair game for anti-satellite weapons.  If they start taking out StarLinks, Kessler syndrome is inevitable.  Then the days of astrophotography are over.

 

 

>…Everything is a viable target in time of war,  I would take it as a given that if they are targeting satellites, starlink would be the #2 target after actual military targets (and probably #1, because the starlink units would almost certainly be easier to destroy than military satellites)…

 

Yesterday Elon said StarLink was being illegally used to guide weapons.  There is a military version of StarLink which SpaceX doesn’t control which can be used for that purpose, but StarLink may not be, for it introduces risk to users all over the planet, some of which have StarLink as their only communications system.

 

>…On the plus side, maybe the Kessler Syndrome would reduce everything to rapidly-moving dust, too small for my telescopes to image. That wouldn't be so bad. 

 

Dwayne

 

A Kessler meltdown doesn’t reduce everything to dust however, or not in our lifetimes, which is why it is a very bad thing.  The orbit of the very small particles will decay quickly, but the kinds of debris from satellite collisions could hang up there messing up astrophotography for several decades.  I don’t have several decades or longer.

 

spike

 

 

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