Yes, they will de-orbit when they are due for replacement.
GJC
Posts by Geoff Campbell
1879 publicly visible posts • joined 13 Jun 2008
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Amazon hasn't launched one internet satellite yet, but it's now planning a fleet of 7,774
Monday 8th November 2021 09:30 GMT 
Not quite
That is, of course, the ideal solution, and I have no doubt that SpaceX and others will be looking to sell such links to corporates with deep pockets.
However, going up to a satellite from the UK, around the planet by frickin' lasers, then down to a ground station in New York for onward transmission to a local business will also shave some milliseconds off the latency.
GJC
Monday 8th November 2021 09:23 GMT
Re: Climate change?
Both Blue Origin and SpaceX are working towards renewable fuel. Blue Origin uses hydrogen, SpaceX are using methane (that will be) created from atmospheric CO2 and water in the Starship engines, which I'm guessing will find their way into the Falcon boosters before long.
Both have reusable boosters, so that's not a huge concern either.
But even if that weren't the case, rocket launches have a surprising low GHG footprint. From memory, a Falcon 9 launch is the same footprint as a single one-way flight from London to New York.
GJC
Monday 8th November 2021 09:05 GMT
Re: The future's so bright i gotta wear shades
You will still be able to see the Milky Way perfectly well, everywhere you can now see it. LEO satellites are visible to the naked eye under certain circumstances, but they don't really intrude on the night sky to visual observers.
It's long-exposure telescope photos that they screw up.
GJC
Microsoft: Many workers are stuck on old computers and should probably upgrade
Friday 5th November 2021 13:24 GMT
Re: How often do they expect replacement
Back when I was involved in deskside stuff, there were broadly two types of company. Some bought absolute entry-level, and refreshed every three years, others bought high-mid-range, and refreshed every five years.
As far as I could tell, the two looked to be about equal in terms of cost and utility to the users.
GJC
Amazon aims to launch prototype broadband internet satellites by Q4 2022 – without Bezos' Blue Origin
Tuesday 2nd November 2021 13:59 GMT
Re: Oh right!
I've had Starlink running here for a few months. You're going to love it.
I've not done proper measurements, but a quick eye-balling of the electricity bills and smart meter data looks to me like the average consumption over time is less than 100w. I can't detect significant difference in my bills, which a solid continuous 100w should have increased by a good 10%.
GJC
Apple seeks geniuses to work on 6G cellular modem before it's even shipped own 5G chip
Jeff Bezos wants to build a business park in space
Tuesday 26th October 2021 09:51 GMT
Re: Tax haven
I would not be arrogant enough to state that I know the motivations behind those companies. The stated aim is to make the human race multi-planetary, although Tesla isn't really much of a part of that plan.
That's rather different to putting a tin can into orbit so you can declare the tax location of your Earth-bound companies as "not in your jurisdiction, buddy".
I have no doubt that there will be plenty of tax wrinkles to work out if we ever do get two full communities of meatsacks on two different planets, mind you.
GJC
Tesla slams into reverse, pulls latest beta of Full Self-Driving software from participating car owners
Microsoft emits more Win 11 fixes for AMD speed issues and death by PowerShell bug
It's time to delete that hunter2 password from your Microsoft account, says IT giant
Amazon says Elon Musk's wicked, wicked ways mean SpaceX's Starlink 2.0 should not be allowed to fly
Thursday 9th September 2021 09:05 GMT
Corporation Tax
Figures, please? All reports I have read don't actually state how much profit was made, they instead choose to quote turnover. Corporation Tax is levied on profit, not turnover, but that apparently doesn't matter to journalists.
From the figures I saw, Amazon appear to be running at about 10% net profit, which sounds about right for the retail side.
GJC
In the '80s, satellite comms showed promise – soon it'll be a viable means to punt internet services at anyone anywhere
Thursday 22nd July 2021 11:58 GMT
I just want an RJ45 coming in to the house.
That is, in fact *exactly* what Starlink gives. They do supply a router as well, but I threw that into the network spares box and plugged the "dish" straight into the back of my pfSense firewall.
We've not had a landline here for, oh, about 8 years, I think?
GJC
Thursday 22nd July 2021 11:54 GMT
Bandwidth
You're quite a long way out on Starlink's bandwidth. I've just run a test and got 207Mbps down, 37Mbps up (and 24ms latency, which is nice). I've seen speeds up to 350Mbps down, and 60Mbps up, but not both at the same time.
It is, I have to say, a very, very nice system. We did have one of the original bi-directional systems using a geostationary satellite, and the bandwidth was astonishing for the time (14Mbps in a age of 128Kbps from ISDN, from memory) but the latency was also astonishing, at over a second. Quite usable for web browsing, as they had an intelligent proxy that bundled up the whole page and squirted it to the user in one big burst, overcoming some of the HTTP latency sensitivity. Telnet sessions were hilarious, though.
GJC
Good news: Jeff Bezos went to space. Bad news: He's back
Wednesday 21st July 2021 10:27 GMT
Re: Worse than vanity
New Shepard burns hydrogen. No carbon footprint at all.
SpaceX's Starship is burning methane, specifically so they can manufacture it on-site from the atmosphere, using electricity from renewal sources. No carbon footprint at all.
Surprising though it may be, these guys have thought about this stuff.
GJC
Richard Branson uses two planes to make 170km round trip
Black screens in Windows 11? Bork has seen it all before
Developing for Windows 11: Like developing for Windows 10, but with rounded corners?
Tuesday 29th June 2021 13:45 GMT
Re: New here
Yup, all of that, and more.
I've never understood why people get so wound up about an OS. It is what it is, it works, and it works better than the alternatives (FTAOD, I don't see MacOS and Windows as direct competitors, given the vertical integration Apple have enforced down the years - two very different approaches, of which the Microsoft approach suits me better).
<shrug> I can't help coming to the conclusion that a lot of this is simply about badly shaved apes allowing their tribal subconscious to rule their more rational side.
GJC
What you need to know about Microsoft Windows 11: It will run Android apps
Friday 25th June 2021 19:49 GMT
That's your choice to make, knock yourself out. But the choice should be made on the basis of actual real facts, rather than rumour and falsehood, yes?
Me, I run a whole range of OSs, for a whole range of tasks. Windows on the desktop, various flavours of Linux and OpenBSD for server and network stuff, VMware hypervisor underpinning a lot of them, Android on phones and tablets. I think there's a couple of VMS machines in the loft, but that's ancient history. It's all good.
GJC
Friday 25th June 2021 15:45 GMT
1) You don't need a working Internet connection at all times, only when you are initially installing Windows. It works perfectly well off-line with a Microsoft account, even if your files are stored on OneDrive (they can be cached locally and will sync when you next connect);
2) You don't need to give Microsoft anything other than a valid email address to set up a Microsoft account. And that email address can be dedicated purely for use with a single PC if you like.
GJC
Friday 25th June 2021 15:12 GMT
Re: Windows 10 like Windows 7
> this is going to slow down take up massively
It occurred to me this morning that perhaps something Microsoft learned from Windows 10 was that a slower take-up can be beneficial for them. Windows 10 as it exists today is very different to the launched version five years ago, it has evolved and changed as the population has grown. And today, they have 1.3 billion live instances, which isn't too shabby.
I wonder if perhaps this has been seen as a good experience for Microsoft?
GJC
Mars race: China dreams of nuclear rockets, manned bases, and space elevators
Friday 25th June 2021 08:47 GMT
Walking distance?
We had lunar rovers in 1971. You can bet that some form of light utility vehicle will be in the very first cargo to be set to Mars.
I mean, sure, the distances will still be limited. But that's the least of the problems to be overcome, really.
Also, 24 hours? They can live on board ship after landing for weeks, if necessary.
GJC
Windows 11: Meet the new OS, same as the old OS (or close enough)
Hyundai takes 80 per cent stake in terrifying Black Mirror robo-hound firm Boston Dynamics
Apple's Find My network can be abused to leak secrets to the outside world via passing devices
Thursday 13th May 2021 10:04 GMT
Re: "Faraday-shielded sites that are occasionally visited by iPhone users"
I can't speak for our colonial cousins, but on MoD sites in the UK it's very common to have armed guards requesting that one put any mobile devices, memory sticks, or digital media of any sort into a locker before entering certain areas.
Which can make administration work on servers a bit of a chore.
GJC
But can it run Avid? The Reg hands shiny new M1 MacBook to video production pro, who beats it with Blender, Handbrake, and ... Hypercard?
Microsoft's Surface Laptop 4 now includes AMD options for biz customers, boasts up to 19 hours of battery life
Wednesday 14th April 2021 13:37 GMT
Re: £999?
I find it *hugely* amusing that worshippers at the Church of Jobs have been telling us for years that the hardware specs don't matter, it's the user experience that is key.
Now the M1 chip has come along, and all we have heard for the last six months is hardware specs, quoted endlessly as if they are the only thing that matters.
Here's a thought for you. It's going to come as quite a shock, you might want to sit down. Here goes:
Most users don't need high performance in a laptop. They run Office applications, and do a bit of web browsing. All these Apple weenies showing how fast they can edit 4K videos and manipulate 3D models? We're just not interested.
GJC
NASA's Mars helicopter spins up its blades ahead of hoped-for 12 April hover
Monday 12th April 2021 08:57 GMT
Re: Nothing there....
That rather depends on the actions and reactions of the various nation states in the face of climate change.
In an extreme worst-case scenario, dwindling resources and growing populations could easily trigger WW3, and I for one would rather be watching that from a bunker on Mars than a bunker on Earth.
Of course, that rather presupposes that the bunker on Mars is self-sufficient, which is going to take a while to achieve.
GJC
Biting the hand that feeds IT
