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Starlink launch and us poor DSO iphotographers
In the next couple of days SpaceX will launch 60 satellites into a LEO to commence the starlink constellation which looks to provide high speed internet access to everyone on the globe. It is all very exciting but this is the start of a campaign that will see around 12,000 satellites launched into VLEO in the next decade.
lets put that in perspective, there are ~5000 satellites orbiting the planet right now with only ~3000 that are in LEO and impact DSO images. So you are looking at a 4x increase in satellite traffic from this constellation alone. However, they are not the only players in this game. Other perspective constellations include
Samsung 4600
telesat 117
amazon 3236
Oneweb 2522
These are all potentially coming in the next decade, so up to 22,475 additional satellites, a 750% increase in LEO traffic. The chances are that not all of these satellites will be launched and that one or 2 providers will probably come out on top but still!
needless to say, it is going to get busy up there and the chances of having a streak free sub is going to go way down. Enjoy it while you can!
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