Professor of astronomy, farmer of goats. Asteroid (42910). She/her.
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2026-08-17T04:58:35Z Event JSON
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Last Notes npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Good morning from my cute animals. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler There's a new crater on the moon due to SpaceX accidentally crashing a leftover junked rocket body yesterday. Give me your best name suggestions! npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Dang, I haven't had to run a simulation overnight for a while. Thanks for being fucking terrible and asking for a million satellites, SpaceX. You suck. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Goat morning npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Ok this is HILARIOUS: DarkSky International made April Fool's Day "nighttime sunscreen" (supposed to protect you from reflected sunlight from satellites...) https://darksky.org/news/darksky-international-announces-first-sunscreen-designed-for-the-night/ npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Hahaha apparently The Conversation sends you a congratulatory email when you have the most reads of the week now. Excellent. Now if only Reflect Orbital's investors and insurers would read it and STOP GIVING THEM MONEY https://theconversation.com/the-u-s-just-approved-a-giant-space-mirror-to-test-sunlight-on-demand-low-earth-orbit-is-getting-weird-283482 npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Auuuggghhhh I have to update the megaconstellation numbers (mostly Starlink) for a talk tomorrow. I hate this. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler On a more serious note, does anyone know how to find out who is insuring Reflect Orbital? Seems like they might want to know the company they're insuring admitted in an official FCC document that they could cause permanent eye damage to people who look at their satellite through a telescope... npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler On first glance (pre-caffeine) it looks like there are a bunch of mansplainers doing math to defend Reflect Orbital in my mentions. FANTASTIC. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler GREAT guess I'm not going to sleep tonight either. Maybe there will be auroras. I need to enjoy the night sky as much as I can now, I guess. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Want some reminders of how fucking terrible this idea is? npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler HAHAHA FUCK SpaceX just launched a nuclear powered satellite. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Grateful to be back home, in the land of rectilinear geometry. My humans have been hugged, my cats have been snuggled, now waiting for the rain to stop so I can go snuggle the goats and dogs. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Ok train nerds: why does the green line on the Montreal subway use tires instead of metal wheels and tracks??? npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler We said goodbye to our llama. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler I really need to do a thread tearing apart all the complete bullshit in SpaceX's latest modification to their million satellite "AI data center" filing (thanks @nprofile…xl49 for finding a public link to that: https://www.scribd.com/document/1045612919/SpaceX-Response-05-29-2026) npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler I finally started reading The AI Con by @nprofile…5876 and @nprofile…8f3n and I already laughed out loud in the first few pages. "Racist pile of linear algebra" is my new favourite term for genAI. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler YOU GUYS!! We live on a planet where the perfect combination of chemistry, atmospheric temperature and pressure, and geometry means that this ridiculously beautiful thing just HAPPENS sometimes!!! npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler I just wrote this sentence in a document where I needed to establish credibility, and I keep giggling about it npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Don't worry, Sam, SpaceX won't ACTUALLY launch 7,000 satellites! (There are currently 10,296 Starlink sats in orbit) npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler I won an astronomy communication and public education award from the Canadian Astronomical Society, for yelling about satellite pollution! I'm quite honoured, and now obligated to continue yelling. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Upside to 2am barn checks for the #BabyGoatCountdown: there were full-sky auroras! (It *finally* wasn't cloudy, yay) npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Good morning! It's very cold and sparkly. And there are no new baby goats. But the 5 baby goats so far are SO CUTE and very healthy. #BabyGoatCountdown npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Trying to edit a stupid FCC comment on Yet Another Fucking Stupid Orbital Data Center (fuck you, Blue Origin) and I need to go outside and rage-scream for a while. And I have an easily accessible hayfield to rage-scream in!! (Also maybe baby goats, I'll check for those too #BabyGoatCountdown) npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler I very much appreciate the way they wrote this: "SpaceX, which recently reported two Starlink satellite failures that created new space debris, yesterday accused Amazon and its launch partner Arianespace of negligence that 'needlessly and significantly increases risk to other operational systems and inhabited spacecraft.'” npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler *Secret hilarious project* is now live! npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler FCC reply comments are due by 5pm Monday 30 March on Reflect Orbital. If you wrote in a comment, please please please write in again saying that they did not address your concerns in their letter (which is very hard to find in the FCC dumpster-fire-of-a-website). Instructions here: https://aas.org/posts/advocacy/2026/02/how-submit-comments-satellite-applications-fcc npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler For no reason at all, please give me your favourite cow-related figures of speech! (Stuff like "No use crying over spilled milk" or "until the cows come home", puns extremely welcome) npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Yesterday my partner and kids visited the Antarctic Centre in Christchurch, and they were all delighted by the penguins and huskies. They were less impressed by the "cold room" (which was -8C and had fans that also blow wind at 40km/hr, they have parkas you can borrow...) npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler The third article in this (horrible) series of articles I've co-authored is now out. https://theconversation.com/a-million-new-spacex-satellites-will-destroy-the-night-sky-for-everyone-on-earth-277938 npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler I presented at the local planetary journal club this morning about the 3 articles I co-authored for The Conversation in the past weeks about the effects that one million satellites would have on the night sky, the atmosphere, and the orbital environment (spoiler alert: all very very bad) npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Well, I have now been quoted calling SpaceX "fuckweasels" in a real publication by real journalists: https://au.pcmag.com/ai/116598/spacex-to-start-small-with-1-million-satellite-plan-pushes-back-on-critics npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler You know what's really cool? Sociable eels in small streams on a university campus in New Zealand. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Deadlines for comments on a million SpaceX "AI data centers" and a company that wants to deliver "sunlight as a service" are coming up soon. If you have time and energy, please write a comment! Instructions below. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler The next few days are going to be extremely hard for personal reasons (on top of everything else happening). npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler I love love love love (in a sarcastic, dark humour sort of way) the title of the article Dr. Laura Revell, Dr. @nprofile…k5hz and I wrote last week https://theconversation.com/a-new-space-race-could-turn-our-atmosphere-into-a-crematorium-for-satellites-276366. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Ok, now that you've sat through that rant, my family and I saw SEVEN KIWIS yesterday! 3 were on Ulva Island, and 4 were just snarfling around in the grass on the sides of the roads around Oban, the only town on Stewart Island. The giant New Zealand pigeons, Kurerū, were abundant and delightful. We saw kākā parrots in town and in the woods, too! npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Kia Ora, Invercargilll! npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler New article out about what a million satellites could do to our atmosphere. It's bad. https://theconversation.com/a-new-space-race-could-turn-our-atmosphere-into-a-crematorium-for-satellites-276366 npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler I got to borrow a bike today and I biked waaayyy longer than I meant to because Christchurch's biking infrastructure is AWESOME, it's super flat and easy to bike here, and I am still constantly guessing directions wrong because I'm in the opposite hemisphere I'm used to (took the "scenic route") npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler @nprofile…medq So in Canada, SpaceX gave $5000 to each family that found space debris on their property. Something tells me they won't do this in Madagascar 😠 npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Too wound up to go to bed, so I just sent lots of emails to people hoping that they'll spread the word and get lots more people to write comments to the FCC telling them that orbital data centres and sunlight-as-a-service are incredibly stupid, dangerous ideas and should never be launched. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Just another shout of appreciation for public libraries! Wellington has at least one good one (I strongly suspect more than one but I'm not going to be here for long enough to double check that). npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Reflect Orbital wants to destroy the night sky to deliver "sunlight as a service". SpaceX wants to destroy Low Earth Orbit to launch one million "AI datacentres" npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Observations from a Canadian visiting New Zealand: npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Hello Aotearoa New Zealand!! (I am so tired and need to stay awake longer) #ProfSamLectureTour npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler The friends I'm staying with have a hilariously sad, ancient folding bike they found with a "free" sign years ago. I really desperately wanted a bike ride, so I pumped up the tires and explored a bit on the greenways of Surrey. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler I started writing this book project using zettlr in markdown, because that seemed like the best way to incorporate many citations from a wild variety of journals/books/articles. But I am now having serious problems trying to integrate files. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Time to watch @nprofile…awgk give a talk at UBC in the forestry department! Because I'm just leaning in to the theme of interdisciplinarity as much as I possibly can to end this week. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler *pops up for air briefly between amazing beaches and forests and research discussions and constant yelling about satellites and hanging out with friends* npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Super busy today, but just have to quickly share that this morning, I woke up at a friend's house, under a skylight, and was delighted to see stars above me for nearly the first time this whole BC trip (lots of clouds here)! npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler I really really hate QR codes. But a lot of people really like them. And they're useful during a talk for the people who really like them (I'm also including the text of the link, though, dammit!) npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler I am up at the observatory in Victoria today (and for the whole week)! It is really fun to see a whole bunch of people I used to work with when I was a postdoc here, and be in a building that is completely full of astronomers!! Quite a change from Saskatchewan where I am the only professional research astronomer in the entire province... (Also it's sunny again and I want to go hike. But I will get some writing and emailing and talk-organizing done first...) npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Sorry that was depressing and everything is already terrible. I would normally post a photo of my goats, but they are far far away right now. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler @nprofile…jks6 It does lower the risk of Kessler Syndrome. But it means that reentries will happen more frequently because satellites will require more fuel to stay in orbit and will likely have shorter operating lifetimes. So more pollution from reentries and launches, more ground casualty risks. Also satellites will be significantly brighter because they're lower. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler I have never seen the word "perihelion" in a weather warning before! Wow. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Reposting for those not bridged to BlueSky, and to add alt-text, because this is important! npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Pretty! But really fucking cold. (Thermometer said -35C this morning) npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler First below -40 windchill morning. Yuck. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Schoolbus just picked up my kid and it's almost completely dark still. I don't know how people handle wintertime even closer to the poles than this! npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler I'll say it again: there is a hard limit to how many satellites you can have in orbit without terrible consequences, and I am quite sure we are already above that limit, mostly thanks to Starlink. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler The accompanying News & Views piece "Even in space, satellites photobomb telescopes" by @nprofile…2mzp is excellent! npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Every astronomer who complains about satellite streaks has heard the same response from techbro-types: "Why don't you just put all your telescopes in space?" npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler "Even Carrington would be impressed" 😬 npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler @nprofile…z64c @nprofile…weex Dude you're completely wrong about Starlink satellites being less bright now: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2507.00107 npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler As long as I'm screaming, I hate hate hate that lower altitude orbits has become a standard request from astronomers to satellite operators. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Just need to scream a little bit about how there are actually hard limits to how much stuff we can have in orbit without severe consequences! It's ok to say that out loud, even if the techbros don't want to hear it! npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler I should add...other than obviously consolidate my lists into one list... npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler About 3 weeks until my epic trip, that will include lots of lectures (both for researchers and the general public), meeting with research collaborators, and hopefully a tiny bit of vacation time. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler @nprofile…08mx Beautiful!! npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Everybody go read "Termination Shock" by Neal Stephenson, because apparently that whole scenario is actually about to start happening: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/11/21/stardust-geoengineering-janos-pasztor-regulations-00646414 npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler I'm famous in Ituna! npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler I cannot believe how much misinformation there is about comet 3I/ATLAS. It's just very cool on its own without having to be an alien spaceship conspiracy... npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler The other panelist was @nprofile…weex, and I learned a lot from his talk! He's studied light pollution in cities, and found that about half of light pollution isn't from streetlights, it's from headlights, signs, and shop/home windows. Horizontal light is the big problem! npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler I just was on a panel for DarkSky International's Under One Sky conference. The panel was about novel and emerging sources of light pollution, I was there to yell a lot about Reflect Orbital. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Listening in to a meeting of radio astronomers: direct-to-cell satellites are SO BRIGHT that even though they're following the rules and broadcasting in their allocated bands, they destroy astronomical observations across a huge swath of frequencies. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler @nprofile…55zn well that's at least the opposite of the Sunlight-as-a-Service Reflect Orbital dystopian techbro shit in orbit that I've been screaming about for the last few weeks. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler A weird part about living in a very rural place is that I will never get trick-or-treaters at my house, and we have to drive to a town for trick-or-treating! But all the small towns around here are *SUPER* in to Halloween. Time for much candy to be acquired by my kids. (I'm glad it's only about 0C for trick-or-treating this year, so the candy isn't going to freeze in their bags like in past years...) npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler The 3I/Atlas wacko emails keep getting weirder and weirder. This one involved Trump changing the orbit of Earth. Thanks a lot, Avi, I blame you. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Your moment of anti-zen npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler @nprofile…ppe2 No Starlinks! You have good timing npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler I've gotten lots of notes from people today about 2 potential space debris falls. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Wow, I just got an email back from the ag minister, saying that they are pausing sales of Crown lands. Once in a while, complaining loudly to your government reps actually makes a difference, so keep doing it! npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler I've got the house totally opened up to absorb that last bit of warmth! The animals seem to know they should be out and enjoying the sun also. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler I have a bazillion new German followers (hello!), and I'm getting interviewed for German public radio in an hour about "sunlight as a service", and I don't speak any German and I've never been to Germany. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Everything is kind of terrible, but the old barn cat who disappeared a couple weeks ago and I assumed was eaten by coyotes is back! Possibly used up a life or two, but perfectly healthy. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/346/708/785/933/527/original/d4f526e29251c76f.png npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler I'm trying to write emails about Reflect Orbital to bird biologists and I sound exactly like the totally unhinged wacko emails I get from random "self-taught geniuses" and conspiracy theorists who regularly email me (and every other physics professor). npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Dumb quick question that I can't quickly find the answer to: how do I turn off the beep sound when someone boosts?! npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler This article by two astronomers details many of the points I just talked about and more ways that Reflect Orbital's plan will never be feasible, just detrimental: now in The Conversation Australia, perfect timing: https://theconversation.com/a-us-startup-plans-to-deliver-sunlight-on-demand-after-dark-can-it-work-and-would-we-want-it-to-264323 npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler What can you do? The FCC never opened up a comment period on RO's filing for launch, so there's no official way to protest. They may open it up later? Absolutely no info on that. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler There are already solutions right here on Earth to many of the problems “sunlight as a service” purports to solve. This approach is simply a reckless and inefficient use of Earth orbit, a precious and finite resource. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Large reflector cross-sections also mean a much higher collision risk from micrometeorites and non-trackable orbital debris. Using typical rates https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S027311772030644X at 625km altitude (the orbit RO proposes to use), such reflectors could expect hundreds of micrometeorite and debris impacts each year, quickly degrading the reflector and creating more diffuse and larger beams. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler The costs to orbital safety: npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler The costs to ecology: npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Similar to astronomical observing with a full moon in the sky, it would restrict observations to only the very brightest handful of stars and planets. This would cause the vast majority of astronomy research to be impossible while one or more of these satellites is above the horizon. npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler The costs to astronomy: npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Having thousands of RO satellites in orbit would lead to frequent bright flashes all over the sky for any observer on the ground. Even millisecond flashes of light at night have been shown to disrupt human circadian rhythms. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0022078 npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler Beams of light sweeping across the sky at night can cause problems for pilots and drivers. It has the potential to be a substantial distraction, and risks disrupting night vision, particularly with multiple beams. This could be risky around airports and could lead to accidents, similar to laser strikes on aircraft. https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/laser-strikes-aircraft-continue-be-dangerously-high npub1dls3fr60k92efj3980hthkhjdgcqky8jawpg9tcqmkvd68dt70esy7hn0x Prof. Sam Lawler The costs to safety and human health:
