So optimistic for Starlink

[2dub]

I read this article and it just made me so optimistic for the future of overlanding and just plain getting out into the world.

SpaceX wants to connect its Starlink satellite internet network to moving vehicles

SpaceX wants to begin connecting moving vehicles – from cars and trucks to jets and ships – to its Starlink satellite internet network.

www.cnbc.com

So many of us have to plan our trips/adventures around our limited time off from work. But with Starlink there will be very little stopping many of us from being able to work and do things we love like travel. Currently I am not able to work regularly away from the office. However, my wife is now permanently working from home. It's not that my job cannot be done remotely, my company just hasn't fully embraced it yet.

Imagine if I were able to get a permanent work from home position. I would really consider hitting the road full time (after my son graduates form HS). But even until then taking his entire summer break and heading... somewhere, anywhere being able to make a living to support my family and my travels, but also getting to live my life to the fullest. Take our time when we go places rather than wish we could have stayed longer.

This is the best of both worlds type situation for those of us who have to keep the paychecks coming in.

 

[Red_Leaf_Overland]

I have starlink at the moment and it's great when it works. It has been patchy lately though, mind you I get it from the roof of the building next store and routed through a booster ( long story ) where I am in Ontario I seem to hit 2 satalites. Calgary ( which usually gives me a faster speed) and winipegg ( which usually is too slow for me to work with). I do understand that they are still in testing and will get better signal spread with more satalites and whatnot so I'm not saying that it's bad by any means it's still better than ourlocal provider can handle. And unfortunately for me I can't work remotely anymore since I hanged careers, but I am hoping as tie goes on they will be more leanient with time off. I would be interested to see how this plays out.

 

[Brewbud]

Our retirement plan is to be on the oceans in a passagemaking trawler. Starlink will eventually be a game changer for us!

 

[beachdude93]

starlink is already ruining the sky for photographers

 

[Sparksalot]

starlink is already ruining the sky for photographers

View attachment 193977

Eh. Satellites are fun to spot with the naked eye or binoculars. The professionals will have a database of the artificial satellites and the computer will likely filter them out before any data is viewed by a human.

 

[beachdude93]

Eh. Satellites are fun to spot with the naked eye or binoculars. The professionals will have a database of the artificial satellites and the computer will likely filter them out before any data is viewed by a human.

Im pretty sure the concept of starlink is a permanent connection worldwide which would require them to be overhead at all times. And since they are not geo-synch , that would basically be a ring of them around planet like the gif but never ending

People got so mad about it elon said he would start painting them black

 

[Sparksalot]

Im pretty sure the concept of starlink is a permanent connection worldwide which would require them to be overhead at all times. And since they are not geo-synch , that would basically be a ring of them around planet like the gif but never ending

People got so mad about it elon said he would start painting them black

cant please everyone. We’ll have have the nimby perpetually offended.

 

[Lil Bear]

two words....Sarah Conner

 

[beachdude93]

cant please everyone. We’ll have have the nimby perpetually offended.

its not nimby its massive light pollution that would ruin the outdoors lol

star link is a good idea but its cost to the outdoors and environment is too much for what it offers

 

[2dub]

I do think Starlink in contributing to "space pollution" Musk is ultimately planning on launching 10's of thousands of these satellites. He has now painted them to reduce the albedo but the pure quantity is going to be the ultimate issue. Overall I think the bigger issue is the number of dead satellites other space junk out there. We need a way to safely and effectively remove these items from orbit to offset what is still scheduled to go up. Remember last year when people thought they found a second moon but it was later found out to be a segment of a rocket sent to the moon in the 60's .

 

[TacoMacs]

Starlink... Skynet... I've seen this movie.

 

[Get Out GO]

It is certainly a game changer for full-timers and content creators on the road in remote areas. I am concerned about the amount of potential space junk this can create as well but at the same time it will make my life a lot easier (and interesting, live streams from the central Kalahari, imagine that).

 

[Old Tanker]

starlink is already ruining the sky for photographers

View attachment 193977

Space photographers would have the camera on a moving mount, so the stars would be stationary. The faster the satellite moves past, the less it will even appear on a long-exposure image.

It is certainly a game changer for full-timers and content creators on the road in remote areas. I am concerned about the amount of potential space junk this can create as well but at the same time it will make my life a lot easier (and interesting, live streams from the central Kalahari, imagine that).

Perhaps what we need is an affordable way to collect or dispose of all the space trash, and Musk probably has a fix for that too. For the right fee.

 

[Road]

.
I was writing about connectivity recently in a full-timer thread. I said in my experience the places where one cannot find a nearby cell signal tower or where one cannot find wifi in remote places has changed dramatically in just the last few years.

I wrote "The times and places NOT having internet for dozens of miles around is getting harder to find, though certainly still exists. I treasure those times and places more and more as they dwindle."

They are disappearing. Everything being super connected all the time, everywhere, in even the most remote of places is not always a good thing. It leads to an even faster increase of an homogenized culture and society where everything is the same.

I love being connected and being able to stay in touch with friends, family, and for safety reasons, too. Though I love being in remote places with no signal, no mobile devices, no screens, and no news drama or social media just as much or more.

Whole generations, many of whom are on these adventure forums, have no experience of being completely self-reliant or dependent on only what is immediately at hand, depending instead primarily on cell service for information, friendship, communication, and rescue. Many are completely lost, incapable, without a cell signal to help.

Knowing how to fend for oneself and survive, in the city or out in the world, without the help of the internet is important. One can say even critical.

Spectrum (formerly Time-Warner cable and internet) went down across 27 states recently for several hours. It affected net-connected payment systems, communications, interrupted in person order taking at restaurants, nav systems went down, and more, never mind the game playing and distractions that stopped suddenly and pissed off people around the country.

One father wrote "My kids were all of a sudden asking me questions about how things work and wanted to go outside and play ball, and my wife and I actually had a real conversation of more than two sentences without looking at our screens!"
.

 

[Road]

Space photographers would have the camera on a moving mount, so the stars would be stationary. The faster the satellite moves past, the less it will even appear on a long-exposure image.



Perhaps what we need is an affordable way to collect or dispose of all the space trash, and Musk probably has a fix for that too. For the right fee.

.
Some man-made objects in space will still be visible, others not so much. Depends on the length of the time exposure. Many night sky images are made with 20 sec exposures, no star tracking gear, and fast lenses and great sensors.

Iridium flares were a real thing, created by sun reflecting off solar panels on satellites at just the right angle. Was a time when they could be predicted, and were visible even in cities with their greater light pollution. Though the Iridium network is said to have been de-orbited and replaced, flares still happen with other satellites and man-made objects in space.

Below is an image I made along the border two years ago. It's not a great photo, or very sharp, but the blinding flare in the middle, in front of the galactic core of the Milky Way I was hoping to get a better image of, is from the sun (around the curve of the earth) hitting the panels of a man-made object orbiting Earth, much like flashing a survival mirror at a distant plane or ship.

You can also see--and that appear in a lot of my other passed over images--more faint streaks; some parallel to the flare, others at almost a right angle. Sometimes a distant shooting star caught in the time exposure, sometimes the Intl Space Station (there are apps that tell you when it's passing overhead), sometimes something else man-made, perhaps.

All very interesting to watch, as we populate the skies with more and more objects, a lot of which becomes space junk left for future generations to deal with.



..

 

[trail_runn4r]

.
I was writing about connectivity recently in a full-timer thread. I said in my experience the places where one cannot find a nearby cell signal tower or where one cannot find wifi in remote places has changed dramatically in just the last few years.

I wrote "The times and places NOT having internet for dozens of miles around is getting harder to find, though certainly still exists. I treasure those times and places more and more as they dwindle."

They are disappearing. Everything being super connected all the time, everywhere, in even the most remote of places is not always a good thing. It leads to an even faster increase of an homogenized culture and society where everything is the same.

I love being connected and being able to stay in touch with friends, family, and for safety reasons, too. Though I love being in remote places with no signal, no mobile devices, no screens, and no news drama or social media just as much or more.

Whole generations, many of whom are on these adventure forums, have no experience of being completely self-reliant or dependent on only what is immediately at hand, depending instead primarily on cell service for information, friendship, communication, and rescue. Many are completely lost, incapable, without a cell signal to help.

Knowing how to fend for oneself and survive, in the city or out in the world, without the help of the internet is important. One can say even critical.

Spectrum (formerly Time-Warner cable and internet) went down across 27 states recently for several hours. It affected net-connected payment systems, communications, interrupted in person order taking at restaurants, nav systems went down, and more, never mind the game playing and distractions that stopped suddenly and pissed off people around the country.

One father wrote "My kids were all of a sudden asking me questions about how things work and wanted to go outside and play ball, and my wife and I actually had a real conversation of more than two sentences without looking at our screens!"
.

I agree with you that is nice time to time to disconnect and be in the middle of nowhere with no one around, with no internet, screens etc.

But just a reminder that you can always turn off you phone, put it in airplane mode or just not using it.

 

[Road]

I agree with you that is nice time to time to disconnect and be in the middle of nowhere with no one around, with no internet, screens etc.

But just a reminder that you can always turn off you phone, put it in airplane mode or just not using it.

.
Well, yes, of course. I'm very well aware of that, and do it even when in the city.

The temptation is there, though, and strong to just check quick if that email came in, or if someone replied to your post, or to check the details on something, then get sucked down a rabbit hole and before you know it you've spent an hour, or the whole morning. I've done it a lot. Most social media is designed to be "sticky," so that you stay around, click more pages and see more ads, which they depend on for revenue.

Even if you don't succumb to the temptation, those around you or who are camping with you most always do and have their minds completely somewhere else instead of the present, here, now. I've seen it change the dynamic of an outing over and over. The glance up from a screen with a blank "Huh?" when asked a question or waiting for them to be ready. They might as well be home.

I watched a father out on a hike with his kid. The Dad was checking out the birds, types of trees, and taking it all in. His kid, lagging ten or so steps behind, had both hands on his device, furiously thumb-typing away. He barely looked up to be sure he was still behind his dad. Not quite the same as your kid walking by your side and enjoying where he is, instead of being somewhere else entirely in his head.

Being somewhere the internet and connection is not even possible, you see those dynamics change. We used to limit screen time for kids to an hour each evening; now you don't hear it being done as much. A lot of parents use it as babysitter when at home and especially in the car.

"Wow, did you see that shooting star just shoot across the whole sky? Holy moly!"

"Huh?"
.

 

[trail_runn4r]

.
Well, yes, of course. I'm very well aware of that, and do it even when in the city.

The temptation is there, though, and strong to just check quick if that email came in, or if someone replied to your post, or to check the details on something, then get sucked down a rabbit hole and before you know it you've spent an hour, or the whole morning. I've done it a lot. Most social media is designed to be "sticky," so that you stay around, click more pages and see more ads, which they depend on for revenue.

Even if you don't succumb to the temptation, those around you or who are camping with you most always do and have their minds completely somewhere else instead of the present, here, now. I've seen it change the dynamic of an outing over and over. The glance up from a screen with a blank "Huh?" when asked a question or waiting for them to be ready. They might as well be home.

I watched a father out on a hike with his kid. The Dad was checking out the birds, types of trees, and taking it all in. His kid, lagging ten or so steps behind, had both hands on his device, furiously thumb-typing away. He barely looked up to be sure he was still behind his dad. Not quite the same as your kid walking by your side and enjoying where he is, instead of being somewhere else entirely in his head.

Being somewhere the internet and connection is not even possible, you see those dynamics change. We used to limit screen time for kids to an hour each evening; now you don't hear it being done as much. A lot of parents use it as babysitter when at home and especially in the car.

"Wow, did you see that shooting star just shoot across the whole sky? Holy moly!"

"Huh?"
.

I agree with all the social media, push notifications rabbit hole thing and it is very real, but ultimately it boils down to you.
I personally have been away on day/weekend/week long trips where since I was enjoying what I was doing that much I basically forgot of all that crap for a while and the few instances I felt the need to "check something" I choose not to do so. I spent 5 minutes daily to chat with my wife and send her my location and then I was done.

 

[Road]

I agree with all the social media, push notifications rabbit hole thing and it is very real, but ultimately it boils down to you.
I personally have been away on day/weekend/week long trips where since I was enjoying what I was doing that much I basically forgot of all that crap for a while and the few instances I felt the need to "check something" I choose not to do so. I spent 5 minutes daily to chat with my wife and send her my location and then I was done.

.
Well yes, of course again. That's obvious. I have too, on trips that last weeks and months in the back country.

My point still stands about those around you and how it can affect the dynamics of an outing.
.

 

[MegaBug]

I'm a big fan of what Starlink can provide, but not for the ”social networking” or continuous communication (I don't do either). What I see as valueable are the navigation capabilities of always having the internet available, and the ability to communicate in case of emergencies from anywhere at any time.
This technology will soon obsolete Garmin devices (and like), including Inreach.