Cowboy Space (I hate their name so much) published their consolidated response a week ago but we just noticed it.
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After modelling this in detail, I can say that that these companies can't even do basic geometry, apparently. They want tens of thousands of satellites to have 24 hour sunlight, so sun-synchronous terminator orbits, baybeeee!
But as Hugh Lewis pointed out (I know, ew, linkedin sorry) https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sun-always-shines-tv-hugh-lewis-tlkbe/ IT DOESN'T FUCKING WORK unless you're above 1400km altitude. And then you're not in the *magical* low-latency low-altitude zone that these companies actually want for fast comms.
@sundogplanets
> They want tens of thousands of satellites to have 24 hour sunlight, so sun-synchronous terminator orbits, baybeeee!Okay, I smirked x)
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@sundogplanets This is so colossally stupid. Like, I know AI + Space! is a perfect VC honeypot but has anyone even thought about the fact that GPUs go out of date inside like 2-3 years? Are they really planning to launch 10,000 satellites per year indefinitely?
Also, has anyone given ANY thought to radiation hardening? GPUs of the sort that people are using for AI are typically manufactured on a 3nm process or so. Most orbital hardware which we actually want to keep running is manufactured on like 50nm because radiation absolutely destroys tiny circuits.
But I'm sure it'll be fine...
@faithisleaping @sundogplanets typically I would just like them to fast forward to the Find Out phase.
Problem with these guys' epic fails is that they take all sorts of scarcities out of the market. Not just talking about the raw materials, energy, labor and capital but also our clean air and skies.
It's a fucking self-fulfilling prophecy gamble with our lives as ante.
Why don't we declare war on these genocidal maniacs?
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@faithisleaping @sundogplanets typically I would just like them to fast forward to the Find Out phase.
Problem with these guys' epic fails is that they take all sorts of scarcities out of the market. Not just talking about the raw materials, energy, labor and capital but also our clean air and skies.
It's a fucking self-fulfilling prophecy gamble with our lives as ante.
Why don't we declare war on these genocidal maniacs?
@deedo @sundogplanets Yup! And it’s even right there in their pitch:
It’s inevitable that there will be a mad race to fill space with shit so America needs to start filling space with shit to ensure space will be full of mostly American shit! (Paraphrased)
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And then there's a whole section where they say that the FCC isn't allowed to consider environmental regulations, and they point to Reflect Orbital getting approved where the FCC specifically said they're not allowed to consider anything except radio broadcasts. This section might actually make me cry.
Next section is just... complaining, I think?
And then they end with saying that clearly they need to be approved.
Fuck you, FCC. Kessler Syndrome is on you.
@sundogplanets Regarding that last point: isn't there anything that can be done from abroad to stop this madness? Why can the FCC alone decide what is appropriate to put in orbit of the whole world?
I dread the "the Americans went nuts and that's why we cannot go to space" chapter of future history books.
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Sure, completely untested, brand-fucking-new company that has never built or launched a satellite. You can definitely launch 20,000 of the biggest satellites ever built.
Oh apparently their first demo mission is scheduled for OCTOBER 2026? Gosh these guys are fucking unreal. The mission is listed as "power beaming demonstration"
What does that even fucking mean? Guess they're going to fry some birds and maybe some pilots? Hm. Watch for that I guess.
@sundogplanets this sounds like when I was 8 years old and I presented my brilliant idea for firefighting: hyper-compressed water capsules that could be air-cannoned into tall burning buildings, delivering thousands of liters of water to douse the blaze.
I got a smile, a pat on the head, and a physics lesson.
These are clearly idiots, who’ve gotten handed a lot of money by other idiots. They don’t even know the Rocket Equation. We should laugh at them.
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@sundogplanets I think I need to do another piece on this for my weekly national radio report. Just proposed it to the network for Monday -- they almost never don't approve these.
@sundogplanets Yep, it's a go.
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Cowboy Space (I hate their name so much) published their consolidated response a week ago but we just noticed it. EDIT: It was due at 5pm EDT today. So... I guess I have to read this shit. Swearing a lot here will get me through it.
A reminder: this is the 4th company that wants to launch fucking enormous "AI data center" satellites into sun-synchronous terminator orbits, giving Earth a ring. This particular company wants 20,000 satellites in one ring.
@sundogplanets Besides orbit geometry and Kessler syndrome etc., how would they deal with waste heat?!
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@sundogplanets Besides orbit geometry and Kessler syndrome etc., how would they deal with waste heat?!
@sundogplanets And besides detrimental effects on astronomy and just everything of course...
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This company also posted an ex parte filing (which means they had a super special extra FCC meeting), their satellites are too fucking huge to even be physically possible. They just can't fucking do this.
My estimate from looking at this ridiculous sketch is 8x60x10m solar panels... that's a reflecting area of 4800 m^2. The International Space Station, the biggest thing in orbit, has a solar panel area of about 3400 m^2.
@sundogplanets Hang on, does that diagram imply the satellites they want to launch are so big that they'd need custom rockets to launch them?
Somehow I suspect they think that's a flex, which it really, really isn't
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@sundogplanets It's still insane that one national agency can approve something like that that has an effect on every country and every other human on this planet.
@mschfr @sundogplanets this is the actual problem.
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Cowboy Space (I hate their name so much) published their consolidated response a week ago but we just noticed it. EDIT: It was due at 5pm EDT today. So... I guess I have to read this shit. Swearing a lot here will get me through it.
A reminder: this is the 4th company that wants to launch fucking enormous "AI data center" satellites into sun-synchronous terminator orbits, giving Earth a ring. This particular company wants 20,000 satellites in one ring.
@sundogplanets But don't all satellites eventually drop out of orbit?
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@sundogplanets This is so colossally stupid. Like, I know AI + Space! is a perfect VC honeypot but has anyone even thought about the fact that GPUs go out of date inside like 2-3 years? Are they really planning to launch 10,000 satellites per year indefinitely?
Also, has anyone given ANY thought to radiation hardening? GPUs of the sort that people are using for AI are typically manufactured on a 3nm process or so. Most orbital hardware which we actually want to keep running is manufactured on like 50nm because radiation absolutely destroys tiny circuits.
But I'm sure it'll be fine...
@faithisleaping @sundogplanets
Yep. That's what I told a student of mine, who brought up the idea of these AI satellites.
I remember the time when NASA was paying silly money for original old Intel chips because they needed them for space applications that ran longer than anticipated.
BTW, you don't even need to go to space for that kind of problem: I once built a "supercomputer" with a load of RAM and you could measure solar activity from the ECC error logs
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This stuff makes no business or even physical sense.
Thus it's a psychological operation?
@murodegrizeco @sundogplanets I think they've realized they don't even have to sell anything to make money. You get investors into your nonsense and then you pay your other companies to do the things you know are pointless and won't lead to anything. Bankrupt the one people invested in when reality hits and walk away with your paid fulfillment contracts.
So long as the big fish still make out nobody gives a shit. Bribe the man to look the other way and only unimportant people complain.
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@GhostOnTheHalfShell @sundogplanets I actually got a note today from a compsci guy I've known for many, many years asking if those things could be repurposed to actually burn stuff on the ground. So this is already in people's minds.
@lauren @GhostOnTheHalfShell @sundogplanets That’s basically the plot of Real Genius.
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Wait. Are they saying that they are magically going to build an entire new rocket in 3 months?
This really is quite the scam.
@michael_w_busch @sundogplanets FWIW, their rocket+spacecraft bus+lots of solar panels concept has existed (in powerpoint, naturally) for a lot longer, their original grift was a space based solar power startup called Aetherflux before they pivoted to AI around the end of 2025 https://mastodon.social/@reedmideke/116581799330100949
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And then there's a whole section where they say that the FCC isn't allowed to consider environmental regulations, and they point to Reflect Orbital getting approved where the FCC specifically said they're not allowed to consider anything except radio broadcasts. This section might actually make me cry.
Next section is just... complaining, I think?
And then they end with saying that clearly they need to be approved.
Fuck you, FCC. Kessler Syndrome is on you.
@sundogplanets Fascist times are always the times of buffoons, but that doesn’t make them any less dangerous.
Wunderwaffen..
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@sundogplanets Regarding that last point: isn't there anything that can be done from abroad to stop this madness? Why can the FCC alone decide what is appropriate to put in orbit of the whole world?
I dread the "the Americans went nuts and that's why we cannot go to space" chapter of future history books.
@jkb @sundogplanets Fascism ends by only revolution or defeat in war. It’s not logically contestable!
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@michael_w_busch @sundogplanets FWIW, their rocket+spacecraft bus+lots of solar panels concept has existed (in powerpoint, naturally) for a lot longer, their original grift was a space based solar power startup called Aetherflux before they pivoted to AI around the end of 2025 https://mastodon.social/@reedmideke/116581799330100949
Recursive vaporware. Great.
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@sundogplanets Jesus, "retired engineers" sending AI generated code, in addition to AI generated drafts of new cosmology-breaking theories is officially my new nightmare...
I miss the crackpots of yesteryear, who knew that creating insane cosmologies took a serious hands-on work ethic.
Today's crackpots have it so easy with their LLMs and whatnot. End of an era.
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@sundogplanets Just hope that there's not also an astrology section coming
@rwaschbaer @sundogplanets Just noting that "physics" and "psychics" are virtually typos of each other
