Prof. Sam Lawler
COOL! The spicy article I wrote about satellite pollution is FINALLY published! "Bright satellites are disrupting astronomy research worldwide" in Nature News & Views.
This article required weeks of back-and-forth with the editor, the editor-in-chief, and Nature's lawyers, so I hope that means it's a good one.
During this process, I learned that satellite companies are so powerful and litigious that even giant publishers like Nature are terrified of getting sued. Which is...rather worrying.
Prof. Sam Lawler
Paywalled article here, I'll share once I have a non-paywalled link (hopefully soon): https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03610-5
The summary: astronomers spent a lot of time asking SpaceX and other large satellite operators to pretty please make their satellites fainter and/or use fewer satellites. And then BlueWalker 3 was launched by some tiny company and is one of the brightest things in the sky. Asking nicely isn't working: international regulation and pollution penalties are needed.
HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴
The summary:
"astronomers spent a lot of time asking SpaceX and other large satellite operators to pretty please make their satellites fainter and/or use fewer satellites..."
Prof. Sam Lawler
Free author link here! https://rdcu.be/drQOU
HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴
For those wondering about #ElonMusk's unprecedented power in satellites 🛰 and mobile internet-based communications, here is the #Starlink background story again (via #NYT):
https://mastodon.social/@HistoPol/111141586398331386
...and what this means for his grip on the #US' and other national governments (via #TheNewYorker):
Prof. Sam Lawler
Just got an email from first Nature editor I talked to about writing this piece, and they thanked me for writing it and apologized for the fact that my rage got toned-down by Nature's lawyers. Interesting!
Ended by saying that they are glad they're retiring soon because they are scared that ground-based astronomy will be dead in 5 years and I should keep fighting.
That's high in the running for the most depressing conclusion to an email I've ever received. Wow.
Prof. Sam Lawler
Hey cool, apparently when you write something for Nature they send you a free paper copy! Kinda neat to see my name in there.
I sincerely hope my article makes someone in power think a little harder about the lack of regulations in orbit (but I'm not holding my breath...I'll keep fighting)
The free link to read the article is a couple posts up-thread, if you are interested and haven't already read it.
GNU social JP is a social network, courtesy of GNU social JP管理人. It runs on GNU social, version 2.0.2-dev, available under the GNU Affero General Public License.
All GNU social JP content and data are available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.