Frederick Bott
1 min readJul 11, 2022

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I hate to be a killjoy, but I don't believe Starlink will turn out to be a good idea in the long run. It might enable a few 100K users to have internet who otherwise might not have had it, for a few years, but sooner or later it has to start failing in waves due to rapid aging of electronics in space environment. The electronics on a starlink satellite are nowhere near radiation hardened to last many years like conventional satellites, so will only have short lifespan. When they start to fail, they will become flying shrapnel (space pollution), which will have very expensive consequences.
They were not needed in the first place; 5G led by joint Western and Chinese efforts was about 15 years in development previously and was on course to deliver without needing hordes of satellites. That was until the bust-up between the US and Huawei, when Space X got involved, and suddenly Starlink appeared.
Anyone getting the benefit from it now should make the most of it whilst it lasts, I would say, because it won't last long.
I bet when they start to fail, fingers will start to point at China and accuse them of sabotage. But truth is they don't have to, all they need to do is wait, Starlink will soon be falling out of the Sky, in my opinion.

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Frederick Bott
Frederick Bott

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