It’s going to start getting pretty crowded above us. Amazon has announced it will be launching three thousand new satellites to provide internet service world wide.
I have nothing against internet being available pretty much everywhere. Although I do like the fact that there are still some places where you can escape. Places where you can just get away and look up and see the stars. Or maybe the satellites.
Looking at the stars is rather enjoyable. I have no real idea what I’m looking at most of the time. I have books, but they’re hard to read in the dark. So you have to compare what you saw outside with what you can see inside. But I know a few basics and I enjoy trying to figure some of the constellations out. But it’s going to get harder.
First, it was Elon Musk and his Starlink service. He’s been deploying satellites all over the place so he can launch an internet service to the world. Now, Amazon has announced they are doing the same thing. There will probably be other companies follow suit. Pretty soon we won’t be able to see the stars because of too many satellites in the way.
And since these same people also own rocket companies that will be taking tourists on little jaunts into space, with all these satellites getting in the way they’ll probably have to install traffic lights before long because of all the traffic in space.
But the part that bothers me is that pretty soon we will be running out of places to not be connected. While we might be able to turn our devices off, they’ll probably soon come up with a way to turn them back on remotely. You wouldn’t want to miss that call about your credit card being used in a country you’re never been to simply because you are checking out some natural scenery.
Simply getting away from the lights around you and looking up at the sky is comforting in many ways. Star gazing today is not that different than it was centuries ago. To know that the North Star that you can see is the same one that guided people on journeys many years ago can give you a feeling of stability.
Better look up while you can. Before too long it will get harder to tell the stars from the satellites.
