Space X: what does it mean beyond the dreams sold by Elon Musk?

SpaceX: the largest IPO in history... but deep down, for us, what does it mean, beyond the dreams sold by Elon Musk?

→ In the short term, man will not go to Mars.

→ In the medium term either.

→ In the long run, we don't know anything.

No, immediately, the $75 billion raised during SpaceX's IPO will finance above all an unimaginable amount of Starlink satellites.

Because SpaceX may be a conglomerate of futuristic activities, but 61% of its revenue is due to Internet connection sales through Starlink.

When I published Anesthetized 4 years ago, only 8,000 satellites had been put into orbit since the beginning of the space era and SpaceX already planned to send 42,000 by 2030.

But last January, the company submitted a request to launch 1 million, destined to become data centers, manufactured on the moon, from where they would be put into orbit.

OK, maybe another megalo dream of Musk that will never be fully seen. But enough to rot the sky.

Since the first Starlink satellites were sent in 2019, astronomers (and perhaps yourself, as happened to me one night) have begun to observe annoying traces of light in their images.

Imagine the multiplication of this light pollution if we go from 10,400 Starlink satellites currently in orbit to 1 million.

Another small problem: these satellites in orbit are designed to last 5 years... As the first ones reach the end of their lives, they begin to fall. And when they burn when entering the atmosphere, they release aluminum oxide that destroys the ozone layer.

Colonizing Mars to preserve humanity: a paradoxical project when you yourself contribute to making our planet a little more uninhabitable.

By Diego Hidalgo