I feel like it's because the people pushing it have a terrible track record. They've shown themselves to be manipulative, untrustworthy, and willing to do whatever it takes to make themselves rich. Why should we trust them with AI?
In better hands the technology would probably make the world a better place. But not in the hands of silicon valley billionaires.
At 480km there will be increased drag, even as we get closer to the solar minimum. The trade-off may be between using propellant for collision avoidance vs using it to counter altitude loss and for station keeping.
Maybe it is also linked to the falling altitude of the ISS? 480km is about the upper bound of its altitude but they seem unlikely to actually raise it that high before it is deorbited.
is it conceivable that collision avoidance maneuvers become cheaper in fuel consumption by using the slightly less thin atmosphere to steer a satellite (only use propellant for attitude control, less direct linear acceleration?
i.e. if the propellant consumption for collision avoidant steering at 550 km in practice turns out to be higher than the consumption to negate the drag incurred for using atmosphere for steering, it could be a logical choice.
Yes, you can do that. But you do need to alter your attitude for long periods and that usually means you point away from the optimal position for the solar panels and for the antennas pointing towards the ground. So yes, but only at the cost of some loss of efficiency.
I regret to inform you that as a consequence of that sustained time travel, your mind and body will be slowly deteriorating and you’ll sooner or later end up dead.
The atmosphere is still thick enough to drag you down at 500km. You would last typically last a few years before burning up - the rate of fall is pretty low at 500km. But you do need fuel to do collision avoidance manoeuvres and for attitude control (otherwise your panels will no longer face the Sun and your antennas will not face the ground).
Thank you, I think it might have been collision avoidance and/or attitude control that I was thinking of then, rather than actually burning up. I remember reading about this in relation to the ISS which needs frequent adjustments, although is a bit lower than 500km.
You are just launching computers, with no propulsion, no attitude control, no solar panels, no radio/laser systems, no radiators. So all of that will take mass away from the computing power. A starlink satellite already weighs about 1000kg, and that really is just the supporting infrastructure you need before you start adding computers...
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