Prof. Sam Lawlersundogplanets@mastodon.social
Apr 27, 2026, 2:17 PM@wraptile This is excellent napkin math that I hadn't even thought to work out, thanks!
Replies
BrokarBrokar@mastodon.socialApr 27, 2026, 2:54 PMWell, you can also spy with the satellites. Can't do that with a cell tower (not that effective) and destroying one satellite does nothing to the system.
I really wish China would launch their own 10.000 satellites and program them on a collision course with the Starlink ones, forcing all of them to enter the atmosphere and burn out.
I would personally thank Xi for making astronomy possible again 😉
wraptilewraptile@fosstodon.orgApr 27, 2026, 2:56 PM@Brokar @sundogplanets yup it's a war machine disguised as a commercial product because the commerce math just doesn't math.
MacCruiskeenmaccruiskeen@social.linux.pizzaApr 27, 2026, 3:47 PM@Brokar @sundogplanets @wraptile If they were just going to do kinetic kill vehicles, they wouldn't need nearly that many to really screw things up. The problem of course is that whoever did it would be screwing up their own assets at the same time.
- wraptilewraptile@fosstodon.orgApr 27, 2026, 3:51 PM
@maccruiskeen @Brokar @sundogplanets you mean using satellites as weapons? that seems a bit unlikely but clearly Ukraine has shown how powerful low-orbit internet is as utility for weapons so I meant more of that regard. For that, you do need a lot of them for good coverage and they have limited lifespan + need a large backup overhead.
- BrokarBrokar@mastodon.socialApr 27, 2026, 3:51 PM
@maccruiskeen @sundogplanets @wraptile
I wouldn't want just kinetic stuff because the chance of the satellites breaking up and creating more debris would be too great. I'd rather go for "safe disposal" 😉 Throw a net over them and pull them down. Like you catch drones.
- wraptilewraptile@fosstodon.orgApr 27, 2026, 3:58 PM
@Brokar @maccruiskeen @sundogplanets I think they are high enough to burn down on re-entry so don't let your dreams be dreams 🙌
smiddismiddi@chaos.socialApr 27, 2026, 4:20 PMAll that shit burning in our atmosphere (over time), is another big problem.
Saverasavera@mastodon.sdf.orgApr 27, 2026, 7:13 PM@Brokar @sundogplanets @wraptile I’ll have you know that I’m not the malicious type.
I wonder if these sats are protected against laser mischief makers. You know like they used to do with airplanes.
- wraptilewraptile@fosstodon.orgApr 28, 2026, 12:11 AM
@savera they are way too far for any commercial lasers to reach
- Saverasavera@mastodon.sdf.orgApr 28, 2026, 3:10 AM
@wraptile I see
CosmicCactusCosmicCactus@mastodon.socialApr 28, 2026, 3:08 AM@Brokar @sundogplanets @wraptile It's also much more difficult to destroy a satellite, almost impossible with conventional weapons.
C.Suthorn :prn:Life_is@no-pony.farmApr 27, 2026, 3:36 PM@sundogplanets@mastodon.social @wraptile@fosstodon.org But many of this 7 million towers are in mega cities, few are in the country side, even less in the global south and non near my secret hidden antarctic super villain head quarter. You would have to put this additional million towers in places that until now have no mobil phone or internet, not replace old towers in Berlin, Prague, Oslo, Helsinki, Aberdeen, Monaco, kiel, flensburg, bremen, oldenburg, celle, uelzen, magdeburg, eberswalde, heringsdorf, stuttgart, trier, ulm, rostock, schwerin, aachen, bonn, düsseldorf, kampen, koblenz, konstanz, mainz, hagen, hanau, kaiserslautern, duisburg, dortmund, bielefeld, stendal, osnabrück, essen, hamm, fulda, memmingen, nürnberg ingolstadt,...,