[LINK] Amazon to offer broadband access from orbit

[Andy Farkas]

> The filings lay out a plan to put 3,236 satellites in low Earth orbit ...

>    *  SpaceX ... more than 12,000 satellites ...

>     * OneWeb ... plans to put hundreds more in place ..

>     * Telesat ... plans to have hundreds more launched ...

So not only is humankind leaving behind a heated-up, poluted dying 
planet for our great-great-great grandchildren, we're leaving behind an 
extreme amount of space junk for them to clean up too. Maybe we won't be 
able to leave Earth due to too much shrapnel in the way....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_debris

"As of January 2019, more than 128 million bits of debris smaller than 1 
cm (0.4 in), about 900,000 pieces of debris 1–10 cm, and around 34,000 
of pieces larger than 10 cm were estimated to be in orbit around the Earth."

> The regulatory process is likely to consider whether Amazon can guarantee that its satellites won’t interfere with the thousands of other satellites expected to operate in low Earth orbit, and that the satellites will be disposed of safely at the end of their operating life without adding to orbital debris.
>

"consider" eh?

-andyf