June 4, 2019In late May, SpaceX launched its first 60 Starlink satellites into orbit. SpaceX plans to launch a much larger satellite constellation into low-Earth orbit with the goal of providing terrestrial internet service. The operation of these satellites will utilize frequencies that neighbor some radio astronomy assets in the 10.6 - 10.7 GHz band. SpaceX coordinated with NSF and its radio astronomy observatories regarding potential interference from their use of the radio spectrum. After working closely with SpaceX, NSF has finalized a coordination agreement to ensure the company’s Starlink satellite network plans will meet international radio astronomy protection standards, limiting interference in this radio astronomy band. Additionally, NSF and SpaceX will continue to explore methods to further protect radio astronomy. Together we are setting the stage for a successful partnership between commercial and public endeavors that allows important science research to flourish alongside satellite communication.-NSF-
Don't want to start an argument, but this is important news: Statement on NSF and SpaceX Radio Spectrum Coordination Agreement
If we want to base telescopes on the far side of the Moon to avoid light pollution from the Earth the far side will have to be protected. Rules need passing that: * Force satellites to switch off their transmitters when on the far side.
Quote from: A_M_Swallow on 06/07/2019 11:45 pmIf we want to base telescopes on the far side of the Moon to avoid light pollution from the Earth the far side will have to be protected. Rules need passing that: * Force satellites to switch off their transmitters when on the far side.I don't get it. When the satellites are on the far side of the Moon? What sort of satellite are you imaging that would be on the far side of the Moon?
Plans exist to put communication satellites around the Moon. These ideas always come back. Here is an old article on it.https://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/satellites/commercial-communications-satellites-for-the-moon
From the link I provided we can tell that funding dried up, probably at the end of 2005. Furthermore, based on the deleted fact I can infer that Gaia is directly competing for funding with the Allegheny Observatory. Additionally we can infer that the telescope that lost work is the 30" Thaw. This seems to be a likely reason why the tour guide was salty about space telescopes. Take the previous statements with a grain of salt as they are my opinion, not confirmed facts.With the opinion out of the way I can now repost the deleted fact. The fact is our tour guide(not naming names here) said a missile is the solution to Gaia.Back to opinion. I do agree that was a poorly expressed thought. I believe the Observatory staff is salty they aren't doing work with a perfectly good telescope. I believe this is a strong indicator of disagreement within the astronomy community. Your mileage may vary.
Quote from: Joseph Peterson on 06/07/2019 08:19 pmFrom the link I provided we can tell that funding dried up, probably at the end of 2005. Furthermore, based on the deleted fact I can infer that Gaia is directly competing for funding with the Allegheny Observatory. Additionally we can infer that the telescope that lost work is the 30" Thaw. This seems to be a likely reason why the tour guide was salty about space telescopes. Take the previous statements with a grain of salt as they are my opinion, not confirmed facts.With the opinion out of the way I can now repost the deleted fact. The fact is our tour guide(not naming names here) said a missile is the solution to Gaia.Back to opinion. I do agree that was a poorly expressed thought. I believe the Observatory staff is salty they aren't doing work with a perfectly good telescope. I believe this is a strong indicator of disagreement within the astronomy community. Your mileage may vary.Gaia is a European mission with no significant contribution from NASA, the money for these two things isn't even coming from the same counties. They are absolutely not competing for funding. Furthermore in both the US and Europe space and most ground based astronomy is handled by different organisations with different budgets.I'm quite sure they mentioned Gaia because it seems they used to do Parallax measurements there. Gaia did not steal there funding, it made their continued work obsolete. Gaia made the measurements they were doing but with much higher precision and for 100 million stars instead of tens to hundreds. It's not really a competition. It has nothing to do with disagreement in the community, it has everything to do with observatory staff sad to see the end and worried for their jobs. If someone was truly enthusiastic about the science that was done at the observatory then they should be thrilled with Gaia, as many astronomers are.
Farside radio telescope fan here. I actually made a rough image showing how I prefer to deploy Lunar comms sats not too long ago. Enjoy.
Quote from: Joseph Peterson on 06/08/2019 11:03 pmFarside radio telescope fan here. I actually made a rough image showing how I prefer to deploy Lunar comms sats not too long ago. Enjoy.The lack of atmosphere also means you could implement the same cutoff with more close in sats, just by turning off emissions.
Quote from: speedevil on 06/08/2019 11:18 pmQuote from: Joseph Peterson on 06/08/2019 11:03 pmFarside radio telescope fan here. I actually made a rough image showing how I prefer to deploy Lunar comms sats not too long ago. Enjoy.The lack of atmosphere also means you could implement the same cutoff with more close in sats, just by turning off emissions.Communications signals aren't the primary concern. The telescope would be looking at wavelengths far longer than what we use for communications. The primary concern is radiated heat. A_M_Swallow already posted how we want to go about "turning off" emissions.