Services with hundreds of craft and their effect on Astronomy

HooRU

You know that I’m a little concerned about device heavy services that depend upon hundreds of craft. What is the effect on Astronomy? What if a collision spread?

Do we need more governance of space yet?

MacLeech

HooRU You know that I’m a little concerned about device heavy services that depend upon hundreds of craft. What is the effect on Astronomy? What if a collision spread?

Do we need more governance of space yet?

Astronomy effects are relatively minimal due to normal stacking of images done to improve observation SNR. That stacking removes the majority of satellite, aircraft, etc. streaks in images.

Collisions that knock debris free are very rare, multiple collisions even more so. Anyway, the majority of large satellite constellations are in low earth orbit, so any collision debris should reenter by itself within months to a few years.

More governance would just slow things down and cost more money, which also directly impedes space based astronomy and science missions.

HooRU

MacLeech A thougtful and good headed response, but unbridled growth can be dangerous for any environment. Look what happened to the West centuries ago with the Gold Rush and Logging Rush.

I think that caution dictates at least a medium of international regulation, no matter the violator, even if it is the USA. We don’t own space and we shouldn’t.

MacLeech

HooRU Oh there is still lots of regulation and licensing all the rocket launch companies still have to go through just in the U.S. with FAA, FCC, DOT, EPA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Coast Guard, Space Force, etc. etc. Many of them have public comment periods for citizens and other companies to add their concerns to the approval process. Companies like SpaceX have people dedicated just for all the regulatory paperwork needs, and that’s after working with the agencies to update and streamline decades old policies that were designed to handle a couple launches per month.

assailant

HooRU We don’t own space and we shouldn’t.

That’s an odd perspective.

HooRU

MacLeech But it’s mostly Earth-side protections. What about Space-side?

When I was a laser tech safety was very important and I worked for an employer that was very cavalier and I ended up leaving. The bad chemicals that I worked with may have been a part of what lead me to get cancer, BTW. It’s probably too late to make an issue about it, but back then I had pleaded for a flow hood that they threatened to fire me for it.

MacLeech

HooRU MacLeech But it’s mostly Earth-side protections. What about Space-side?

What space-side protections do you have in mind? Why?

There is the planetary protection office within NASA to limit protecting solar system bodies from contamination by Earth life and protecting Earth from possible life forms that may be returned from other solar system bodies.
https://sma.nasa.gov/sma-disciplines/planetary-protection

Space as it’s name implies is VAST, and we’ve affected an incalculable infinitesimal tiny part of it. 99%+ of the universe and all the space it contains, we will NEVER reach. The observable universe is roughly 93 billion light-years in diameter. Our furthest probe is a little less than 12 light-hours away.

Also, realize that something like 50 tons of space rocks and material rain down on the earth every day. The amount we launch into space recently is tiny compared to that. All it takes is one rock of the right size and trajectory to wipe out humans on earth. It’s not if, but when, and it’ll happen quicker than any bee colony collapse will. Less destructive hits happen more often, but can still cause civilization impacting effects. We’re more susceptible to being wiped out by space debris we had nothing to do with than anything we can possibly do to space.

Have some fun playing with this asteroid hit simulator:
https://neal.fun/asteroid-launcher/

We don’t need to protect space, we need to be protected from space. Being able to launch big rockets like SpaceX Starship, Blue Origin New Glenn, and others, more often, will help.

HooRU

I’m partly thinking in terms of space junk that would affect future efforts in orbit. Also, the LaGrange Points, I wonder how many telescopes we can place in L2.

I know it’s all “what if” but in my former tech work, part of my job was anticipating future problems.

MacLeech

HooRU

HooRU I’m partly thinking in terms of space junk that would affect future efforts in orbit.

Again, more space junk comes from space than anything we’ve launched into orbit. Protect from that.

Larger fully reusable rockets like SpaceX Starship and Blue Origin New Shepard leave less space junk than a rocket like Artemis that leaves much of itself in space, only returning a capsule if anything. Low flying constellations such as SpaceX Starlink deorbit much quicker in a few years vs. higher orbiting satellites, which can take hundreds or thousands of years to deorbit.

HooRU Also, the LaGrange Points, I wonder how many telescopes we can place in L2.

L2 along with L1 and L3 are unstable LeGrange points, things fall out of orbiting those without active orbit corrections so they don’t collect debris. Being that objects can orbit those balance points hundreds of thousands of miles from them, thousands of objects can be at those points. At times, JWST orbits L2 at a distance further then the distance from the earth to the moon.
https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/01F4STZH25YJH07WTN7XJYQP8P