If current plans for satellites are approved…
It’s going to be like an interstate highway in rush hour in a snowstorm with everyone driving much too fast….Except that there are multiple interstate highways crossing each other with no stoplights.
Jonathan McDowell, astrophysicist and astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. https://www.space.com/how-many-satellites-fit-safely-earth-orbit
In an effort to connect every “thing”, event, and place on the planet to the internet, and to transition the world to a new model of warfare, as of May 2023, there were 7560 operational satellites orbiting Earth, with the US leading the charge at 5184. According to the journal Science, as of October 2023, over 1,000,000 applications for satellites were filed. (Current list by country as of 9/18/2024)
Satellites are transported to space by rockets and set into orbit at varying distances from the Earth’s surface. Most often they use radiofrequency/microwave radiation to send transmissions to and from ground stations on Earth where the data is received, processed, and sent on according to its mission.
For personal satellite users, a small terminal known as a dish is stationed on their roof or near their home. There are also terminals that can be mounted on cars. The dish/terminal sends and receives transmissions directly to a satellite which then sends the communications on to an Earth base station to be processed. To communicate with one’s computer or other wireless device, the dish operates much like WiFi, transmitting through the airwaves into one’s home, saturating all who live there (and likely neighbors as well), with a hefty dose of wireless radiation.
Satellites are being developed that will interface directly with cellphones. For the moment these are primarily intended for emergency alert or short text messages, but companies are scaling up to make satellite-connected phones operate much like smart phones connected to earth-based infrastructure (cell towers).
Satellites range in size and weight, some being as large as a school bus. Small satellites, aka SmallSats, can be as large a kitchen refrigerator or as small (thus far) as a Femtosatellite, weighing .001-.01 kilograms. Miniature satellites known as CubeSats are a subset of SmallSats and are approximately the size of a Rubik’s cube. Due to lower cost, less mass, and ease of launch, smaller satellites have enabled more players to get into the act of propagating their wares in space. If the number of satellites planned indeed comes to fruition, space would be rendered unusable due to congestion and space debris.
Satellites are used for communications, imaging, weather-forecasting, smart cities, robotics, TV, banking, critical infrastructure such as electric or water grids, GPS, moon and space-mining, agriculture, and more. Armed forces around the world depend upon satellites for all their operations as well. Although satellites provide many benefits, it is imperative to consider the dangers they pose in order to more responsibly integrate them into the internet and telecommunications network, where moderation and balance are sadly in short supply.
Problems with satellites include space debris, depletion of the ozone layer; risk of devastating cyber attacks, pollution from rocket launches and from “dead” satellites burning up in the atmosphere, and collisions; plutonium and uranium spills from nuclear-powered satellites and space vehicles; increase in already harmful levels of electromagnetic radiation, compromise of the night sky, interference with both astronomical research and weather forecasting; effects on wildlife including navigation, yet more tracking, surveillance and erosion of privacy; vastly more energy consumption and the “promise” increase the lethality of war.
In addition to providing a redundant and complementary communications network for both the commercial and military sectors, satellites contribute mega data streams that feed artificial intelligence, and that have enabled the development of three new branches of the armed forces: cyber warfare, electromagnetic warfare, and info/cognitive warfare. Armed forces rely on satellites, an integral part of the electromagnetic spectrum infrastructure, and on AI for sensing, sense-making, weapon guidance, attack and assessment.
Satellites are also foundational in network interoperability between all branches of the military. In the US, this is referred to the Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2). NATO countries refer to it as Multi-Domain Operations.
Operators and governments market satellites as “bridging the digital divide”, however, wired technologies are safer, faster, more reliable, cyber secure, and energy efficient. Bridging the digital divide would be far more effectively done with wired connections leaving satellites to fill in on essential services if and where wired is absolutely unfeasible. E.g., a small number of dedicated satellites could be used to serve the remotest areas on the planet. Unfortunately, governments and industry ignore the advantages of wired technologies as they are more expensive to build. Possibly even more significant than cost in why industry and governments prioritize wireless infrastructure is that it provides granular and actionable data lending it a decided advantage over wired connections for surveillance, marketing, surveillance capitalism, and war – and a decided disadvantage for the rest of us in terms of autonomy and dignity.
Satellites can be placed at varying distances from Earth:
Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) – c. 35,000 km above Earth (22,000 mi) (Geo-synchronous Orbit)
Middle Earth Orbit (MEO) – 2000 – 35,000 km above Earth (c. 1200 – 22,000 mi)
Low Earth Orbit (LEO) – 160 to 2,000 km (99 to 1200 mi) above Earth
Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) – Below 400 km (250 mi) above Earth
Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO) – Orbits on an elliptical path with altitude varying from 1000 – 42,000 km (600 – 27,000 mi) above Earth.