Folks & Energy investigates the brand new satellite tv for pc area race and its implications for the longer term.
Area could also be infinite, however the Earth’s orbit isn’t. Since 2019, the variety of satellites circling the planet has greater than doubled. Firms like Elon Musk’s Starlink, OneWeb, Amazon’s Challenge Kuiper, and even entities as giant because the European Union Company for the Area Programme (EUSPA) have launched 1000’s of satellites in hopes of gaining an higher hand within the profitable market of orbital area across the Earth.
The industrial potentialities of area supply the potential to empower the roughly three billion people who find themselves at the moment with out broadband web and supply a useful software for researchers. However there may be potential peril embedded within the promise. Expanded web entry will increase the surveillance capabilities of presidency and personal entities. The army use of satellites has already resulted in sabre-rattling between world powers. Mirrored mild from satellites might change the best way we see the celebrities within the night time sky. And each new satellite tv for pc will increase the prospect of a disastrous collision which might set off a series of occasions that might render the Earth’s orbit unusable.