I did not believe what I saw in the sky last night

Free AI web copilot to create summaries, insights and extended knowledge, download it at here

1168

Abstract

, a third one? Following at the same distance?</p><p id="9509">At 15, I stopped counting.</p><h2 id="7996">Mystery solved</h2><p id="6cab">A quick google session reveals minute old tweets from Brits baffled by the same convoy of satellites. It’s just Mr Musk touting <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink">Starlink, his dream of providing high speed internet to the globe</a>.</p><h1 id="24fd">Well, is it the future?</h1><p id="74b7">At first, I can’t contain my excitement at this marvel of human ingenuity. If I had children, I would have probably woken them up.</p><p id="087f">Slowly but surely the afterthought sinks in. If these convoys are just the first batches of 60 low orbit satellites and many more launches are planned, what will become of the night sky? Astronomers and radio telescope researchers are already balking at existing light pollution and radio interference.</p><p id="0110">I’m sure the reflections are part of the human experience of trial and error. SpaceX is currently attempting to address the issue by experimenting with anti-reflective coatings on the next batches of Starlink satellites.</p><p id="8a0f">My mind wanders furt

Options

her. This interference with astronomic observation is unintentional, but what if it wasn’t? After all, Elon Musk <i>is </i>the guy who launched a car into space.</p><p id="9922">I’m having a flashback, followed by a flash forward. I’m 8 years old, browsing through a comic book where the bad guy lasered a Coca-Cola logo into the moon. Will I have to explain to my grandkids that there was a time before ads in the sky?</p><p id="a847">I turn to the internet in the hope that I can mitigate my anxiety. I am relieved to find there <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_advertising">is some legislation in place to prevent obtrusive space advertising</a>. However, future lawmakers will have to keep up as technology progresses.</p><p id="05cc">I just wish human ingenuity would come without the obnoxiousness. Or that we at least learn from mistakes.</p><figure id="88b8"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*0q6i4JAMU0s8Q5fg77N13A.jpeg"><figcaption>© Dupuis. From a comic album<i> “Z comme Zorglub”</i> in the Spirou series. Its author Franquin was inspired by an Arthur C. Clarke short story.</figcaption></figure></article></body>

Is it the future?

19 April 2020, 10.30 PM. I take my last drink of night air from my balcony before bed. Devoid of its usual grey shroud with hues of purple and orange from the greenhouses and highways, I gaze into the sky. A moving star catches my eye.

As a child I often looked up wondering where the people in airplanes had come from, where they were going and why. Since I discovered flight tracker apps, not much mystery is left. Except maybe planes that don’t have flight numbers. I can only assume these are military.

I spot a second object, moving along the same eastward path in the zenith. My left eyebrow raises at an exceptional sight in this light polluted Belgium. Then, a third one? Following at the same distance?

At 15, I stopped counting.

Well, is it the future?

At first, I can’t contain my excitement at this marvel of human ingenuity. If I had children, I would have probably woken them up.

Slowly but surely the afterthought sinks in. If these convoys are just the first batches of 60 low orbit satellites and many more launches are planned, what will become of the night sky? Astronomers and radio telescope researchers are already balking at existing light pollution and radio interference.

I’m sure the reflections are part of the human experience of trial and error. SpaceX is currently attempting to address the issue by experimenting with anti-reflective coatings on the next batches of Starlink satellites.

My mind wanders further. This interference with astronomic observation is unintentional, but what if it wasn’t? After all, Elon Musk is the guy who launched a car into space.

I’m having a flashback, followed by a flash forward. I’m 8 years old, browsing through a comic book where the bad guy lasered a Coca-Cola logo into the moon. Will I have to explain to my grandkids that there was a time before ads in the sky?

I turn to the internet in the hope that I can mitigate my anxiety. I am relieved to find there is some legislation in place to prevent obtrusive space advertising. However, future lawmakers will have to keep up as technology progresses.

I just wish human ingenuity would come without the obnoxiousness. Or that we at least learn from mistakes.