It's a Good Cloud Day. But the goats are very annoyed there was a teeny tiny bit of rain (they really do not like rain).

And now time for my morning radio interview. At least I had time for (most of) a cup of tea first.

@sundogplanets

Can goats get wet? I learned about donkeys that they can't get wet, since they'll cool out too much. I would think that goats could take rain and just don't like it, true?

hahaha oh no I forgot I was supposed to be on Google Meets for this interview not a phone call! Luckily my computer cooperated and the producer was very understanding. I just am wearing a ratty farm sweatshirt and didn't brush my hair and have a messy room in the background. Oops. Luckily I've got another interview for Saskatoon in 15 minutes so I can try to do better this time...

Interview 2 went much better (which is good, Saskatoon is where it's most likely that pieces would be found, if there are any pieces) and I remembered to say the email address I want people to send possible space junk finds to! AND I got a better camera setup and actually brushed my hair. But I'm somehow going to end up on CBC national news in my ratty farm sweatshirt AGAIN aren't I?

@sundogplanets

The better to connect with actual farmers, I'm guessing. Real is good.

A scary quick calculation: there are 10,375 Starlink satellites in orbit https://planet4589.org/space/con/conlist.html, all coming down within 5 years.

That's an *average* of 5 or 6 a day for the next 5 years. And the v2's are bigger than the v1's. v2's are (conservatively) 1000kg and (conservatively) half aluminum. That's 2.5-3 tonnes of aluminum per day. 8 times the natural infall rate of aluminum (and there's lots of other scary things like lithium). What will that do to our atmosphere?

SpaceX is awful.

@sundogplanets

Wasn't that the plot of Seveneves?

@knud @sundogplanets wow, colour me surprised. TIL about donkeys!

@hattom @knud I did not know that about donkeys. My goats don't like getting wet, and avoid it when they can, but I have definitely seen them get damp and not have any issues.

@sundogplanets Glass-half full: If Musk tires of SpaceX all that crap will be out of orbit in short order.

@sundogplanets @hattom

OK, so just like me 🙂

The donkey's I am visiting ~1/year go into their stable or under their roof when it starts raining. I really like them.

(I don't have any image available, sorry!)

@sundogplanets

August 5, 2026 isn't that far away ...

"There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury
https://www.btboces.org/Downloads/7_There%20Will%20Come%20Soft%20Rains%20by%20Ray%20Bradbury.pdf

#scifi

@albertcardona I think about this short story quite frequently, but haven't read it in years! I didn't realize there's an exact date in it! Wow.

@lauren @sundogplanets

There is no glass half full, they are sending more of it up all the time. The entire trillion dollar SpaceX IPO is predicated on pumping this satellite sewage into LEO.

@mastodonmigration @sundogplanets Better that the garbage isn't at orbits where it would hang around much longer.

@sundogplanets the plus side is you won’t look like a slick PR shill.

@sundogplanets As a Chinese citizen, I hope to one day use Starlink to bypass the GFW and access the open Internet. SpaceX is doing amazing work!

@nixzhu I'm sorry that's what you are forced to depend on. Enjoy it before SpaceX starts Kessler Syndrome, I guess?

@sundogplanets Horrible!

@nixzhu @sundogplanets We just need heavy industry in orbit so that the potential and kinetic energy of those satellites can be recycled. ;-)

@sundogplanets If the Kessler Syndrome actually triggers, we’ll just have to launch a fleet of specialized 'cleaner satellites' to clear the debris field and restore the orbit.

@nixzhu Good luck inventing that.

@sundogplanets @mastodonmigration Now imagine having a million data centers in orbit, from musk alone. Before long, every few seconds a satellite will come down – with all its payload burning into the atmosphere

@hansbot @mastodonmigration It's every 3 minutes for a million satellites with 5 year lifetimes 😭

@sundogplanets
Being an old man, when you say v1 and v2 my first mental images are these.
Whilst the effect of these are decidedly different in detail, their destructive nature is not.