Prof. Sam Lawler

@sundogplanets@mastodon.social

Any journalists want to write an article about all the environmental costs of the more than 10,000 Starlinks that are now in orbit? All I'm seeing are breathless articles mindlessly worshiping That Awful Billionaire for crossing the 10,000 satellite mark.

Every single one of those will come down in an uncontrolled reentry. That's a lot of metal in the atmosphere, and a lot of dice-rolling to see if any more pieces will make it to the ground.

SpaceX is truly awful.

March 15, 2026 at 10:42:17 PM
Web

Yes, I would love to. It's on my to do list.

@simon
@sundogplanets
 IPO on June 9. Gotta get all the material out to ensure this is a massive flop by then.

@foxxtrot
@simon
@sundogplanets

That's a really good insight. If enough people raise hell and the IPO crashes and burns (much like their stupid satellites), that would be a DELIGHTFUL way to end this nonsense.

Sadly, I suspect there are enough Marks, hoodwinked by Musk, that the IPO won't be a complete disaster (though their projected valuation is outright lunacy), but here's hoping it's a flop that destroys the Cult of Musk forever.

Not to mention the alleged disturbance they cause in the astronomy community. They did voice their opinion multiple times to no avail.

Elk Logo

Elk is in Preview!

Thanks for your interest in trying out Elk, our work-in-progress Mastodon web client!

Expect some bugs and missing features here and there. we are working hard on the development and improving it over time.

Elk is Open Source. If you'd like to help with testing, giving feedback, or contributing, reach out to us on GitHub and get involved.

To boost development, you can sponsor the Team through GitHub Sponsors. We hope you enjoy Elk!

三咲智子 Kevin DengPatakDaniel RoeAnthony Fu

The Elk Team