Musk is known as the live-action version of Iron Man, a complete technology maniac, who owns several technology companies. We are familiar with Tesla, SpaceX, StarLink, etc., each company is the industry's top presence. Although the existence of these companies has made Musk the richest man in the world, it often puts Musk on the cusp of the storm, and his starlink has recently brought some trouble to Musk.
Experts rebuke starchains for occupying orbits
Speaking of Musk's Starlink program, many people should be more familiar with it, and he hopes to establish a global satellite network by launching up to 42,000 communication satellites into space to provide broadband and network services for humans on Earth. This idea sounds good, but it is extremely crazy, after all, 42,000 satellites need huge financial support, it is not easy for a country to launch so many satellites, and it is also a matter of concern to launch so many satellites into space, although space is large, but too many satellites in the same orbit will cause many problems.
Recently, The Director-General of the European Space Agency, Joseph Aschbach, questioned Musk's launch of so many satellites, arguing that Musk's Starlink program is preempting vacancies in Earth's orbit, crowding out potential future competitors, and "setting the rules." Space in the same Earth's orbit is limited, and after Musk grabs space, other countries will have no place to stand.
Musk recently responded positively to this accusation. It believes that space is very large, every 10 meters there will be a new Earth orbit, these spaces can accommodate tens of billions of satellites, and the number of satellites launched by its Starlink program, just like a car on Earth, will not occupy space.
Musk's response was questioned by many experts, giving the reason that "satellites are not cars." Satellites in Earth orbit travel at 7.9 kilometers per second, and need to be kept large enough from each other to avoid collisions as much as possible. Musk's claims simply don't hold water. Many netizens also feel that Musk's remarks are pure nonsense, that is, sophistry.
The drawbacks of StarLink
Indeed, musk's Starlink program launches too many satellites in terms of the number of launches. According to relevant data, as of 2020, there are about 5500 in Earth orbit. And according to expert predictions, the number of satellites in the future orbit of the Earth will reach 100,000. A total of 100,000, Musk Starchain directly occupies 40%, although space space is everyone's, anyone can use, there is no who grabs who is the first to say, but only as a company or individual to have such a large number of satellites is indeed unreasonable. At the same time, compared with preempting positions in advance, there are also problems that threaten the security of satellites in other countries and possible space junk problems.
In the past, Musk's two star-chain satellites have twice intentionally approached the Chinese space station, twice threatening the safety of the Chinese space station and astronauts, fortunately, the two Chinese space stations were found in time and avoided urgently, without causing damage. The star chain exists to provide services to humans on earth, not to attack other countries' satellites and spacecraft, and if there is a malicious mentality, then the so-called star chain does not need to continue. Now the number of Starlink satellites is small, if the number of satellites reaches 42,000, it will directly become a weapon for the Old United States to attack other countries' satellites to dominate space.
At the same time, because of the service life problem of the satellite, after exceeding the predetermined service life, the satellite will become a failed satellite. After these failed satellites lose control, they will drift randomly in space, and many satellites will deviate from the orbit due to various factors, and eventually collide with other off-orbit satellites and disintegrate, decomposing into debris of different sizes.
This debris will become space junk, flying at a speed of 7.0 to 8 kilometers per second, and once it hits other functioning satellites or space stations, it will cause great harm. According to the head of SpaceX, the Starlink satellites launched earlier have a failure rate of 1%, and some have already failed. If calculated at 1%, 420 out of every 42,000 Starlink satellites will have problems and end up as space junk.
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But it's clear that Musk's SpaceX only has the ability to launch satellites, not the ability to clean up space junk. At present, only China and Damao are actively cleaning up space junk in the global countries, and Musk only wants to create trouble and does not want to solve the trouble, which is too beautiful to think.
Space is for all mankind, and if you want to develop space reasonably, you must have rules. It is good for companies like Musk's StarLink to contribute to mankind, but if the motive is not pure, if it is only for its own consideration, and wants to become a weapon for the old Beauty to harm other countries, then it is a major scourge and must be rectified.
Everything is business, Musk denies that StarLink occupies the orbit, netizens: sophistry!
Musk denies using Starlink to "encircle" experts: too many satellite launches