Search Results: constellations

https://www.space.com/space-exploration/satellites/tragedy-of-the-commons-in-space-we-need-to-act-now-to-prevent-an-orbital-debris-crisis-scientists-say

Earth orbit is getting more and more crowded, with both active satellites and pieces of debris. There's so much stuff up there that it's far from alarmist to start worrying about the Kessler syndrome, a nightmare scenario in which a collision or two leads to many more, vastly increasing the amount of junk circling our planet.

“We have to get serious about this and recognize that, unless we do something, we are in imminent danger of making a whole part of our Earth environment unusable."

Most of those LEO satellites — about 6,800 of them — belong to a single constellation: SpaceX's Starlink broadband network. The vast majority of these warnings involve Starlink satellites, which are far from sitting ducks. These spacecraft use onboard software to spot possibly worrisome encounters and perform evasive maneuvers if needed which other satellites cannot.

These numbers are growing all the time, and the tally could soon get mind-bogglingly high. SpaceX, for example, wants the Starlink network to eventually harbor more than 40,000 spacecraft.

Other players aim to build their own broadband constellations in LEO as well. China has begun building out its Qianfan ("Thousand Sails") megaconstellation, which will feature about 14,000 satellites if all goes according to plan. In addition, Amazon intends to assemble its own 3,200-satellite LEO broadband network, called Project Kuiper.

These satellites are having more and more close encounters with each other and with pieces of debris. Indeed, there are about 1,000 collision warnings per day on average in LEO. Earth orbit is getting more and more crowded, with both active satellites and pieces of debris. There's so much stuff up there that it's far from alarmist to start worrying about the Kessler syndrome, a nightmare scenario in which a collision or two leads to many more.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/republicans-donald-trump-project-2025_n_64ee565fe4b096f15d7edf14
Conservatives Plot To Dismantle US Government, Replace With Trump's Vision

With more than a year to go before the 2024 election, a constellation of conservative organizations is preparing for a possible second White House term for Donald Trump, recruiting thousands of Americans to come to Washington on a mission to dismantle the federal government and replace it with a vision closer to his own.

Led by the long-established Heritage Foundation think tank and fueled by former Trump administration officials, the far-reaching effort is essentially a government-in-waiting for the former president’s second term — or any candidate who aligns with their ideals and can defeat President Joe Biden in 2024.

With a nearly 1,000-page “Project 2025” handbook and an “army” of Americans, the idea is to have the civic infrastructure in place on Day One to commandeer, reshape and do away with what Republicans deride as the “deep state” bureaucracy, in part by firing as many as 50,000 federal workers.

“We need to flood the zone with conservatives,” said Paul Dans, director of the 2025 Presidential Transition Project and a former Trump administration official who speaks with historical flourish about the undertaking.

“This is a clarion call to come to Washington,” he said. “People need to lay down their tools, and step aside from their professional life and say, ‘This is my lifetime moment to serve.’”

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“The president Day One will be a wrecking ball for the administrative state,” said Russ Vought, a former Trump administration official involved in the effort who is now president at the conservative Center for Renewing America.