Favoriting Techtonic with Mark Hurst: Playlist from November 18, 2024 Favoriting

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Conversations with creators and thinkers who are charting the way forward in a tech-saturated society. In our shift to a digital future, we need alternatives to Big Tech. Homepage: techtonic.fm

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Favoriting November 18, 2024: Astronomer Samantha Lawler on Musk's space junk

Listen to this show: MP3 - 128K | Pop-up listen Pop-up player!

Screenshot from <a href="https://stuffin.space" target="_blank">stuffin.space</a>, Nov 18, 2024
Screenshot from stuffin.space, Nov 18, 2024
Favoriting
Screenshot from stuffin.space, Nov 18, 2024

Today: Astronomer Samantha Lawler on Musk's space junk

Thousands of Elon Musk's SpaceX satellites will re-enter Earth's atmosphere in the next few years, adding huge amounts of metals and chemicals to our sky. Astronomer Samantha Lawler returns to Techtonic to explain why satellite "mega-constellations" are causing havoc for astronomers and will soon affect all life on earth.

@sundogplanets, Sam Lawler on Mastodon

AAS Releases A Compasse-Led Statement On Atmospheric Impacts Of Spacecraft Reentries And Launches (Sep 27, 2024)

WasteX: Environmental harms of satellite internet mega-constellations (PIRG, Aug 8, 2024)

When Space Junk Fell on My Neighbor’s Farm, the Law Had Few Answers for Us (by Sam Lawler in Scientific American, July 11, 2024), about just one incident of space junk:

The trunk’s outer layers of woven carbon fiber billowed and unraveled as it fell, likely insulating and slowing the plummeting pieces so abruptly that friction from the atmosphere failed to destroy them as SpaceX engineers had planned.

Objects breaking apart high overhead often leave debris trails spanning hundreds of miles; the hefty fragments in Sawchuk’s equipment shed were a testament to many smaller ones undoubtedly generated by this event that are yet to be discovered. People will be finding additional pieces for years, if not decades.
Astrotopia: The Dangerous Religion of the Corporate Space Race by Mary-Jane Rubenstein

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Artist Track Album Label Images Approx. start time
  Astronomer Samantha Lawler on Starlink space junk
Tomaš Dvořák  Game Boy Tune   Favoriting Machinarium Soundtrack  n/a 
Favoriting
 
  Mark's intro      
Favoriting
 
  Interview with Sam Lawler      
Favoriting
0:07:30 (MP3 | Pop-up)
  Mark's comments      
Favoriting
0:44:11 (MP3 | Pop-up)
Momus  The Enshittification of Everything   Favoriting Ballyhoo  American Patchwork 
Favoriting
0:53:53 (MP3 | Pop-up)


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Listener comments!

Avatar Swag For Life Member 5:29pm
ultradamno:

Mark! Techtonsmonauts!
  6:00pm
David (in London):

Evening Mark and all Technoids.
  6:02pm
Hugo (NL):

Hi mark, fellow stardust beings
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:03pm
Bas NL:

Hi Mark! Hi space junkies!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:03pm
StringOFperils:

Oh great! This subject really needs to become front and centre!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:03pm
Handy Haversack:

Welcome back, Mark! Evening Techyons!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:03pm
Will thee SG OCNY:

Hi Mark Hurst and all!!!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:05pm
ultradamno:

Dental x-rays seem helpful
Avatar 🤖 6:06pm
MarciB:

I'm afraid of what Sam will share with us-I doubt anything can be done ;(
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:07pm
Handy Haversack:

↳ ultradamno @6:05
We were just discussing that there's no evidence that annual dental x-rays provide any benefit at all! Apparently, Europe doesn't do that? But studies show that they provide no benefit and certainly aim a lot of radiation at one's brain. So ... there's that.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:08pm
ultradamno:

That's how you get superpowers.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:08pm
Spikey BXL:

I remember the February episode!
Cue "Runaway collisional cascade" as a prog song or band name again.
Hi Mark, hi Sam!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:08pm
Webhamster Henry:

SKYLAB!!!
  6:09pm
Sam:

“Once the rockets go up, who cares where they come down?
That’s not my department” says Werner von Braun.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:09pm
The Butterman:

Just saw the ISS!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:09pm
ultradamno:

meetmydentist.com...
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:10pm
ultradamno:

But to get on less divisive territory: fluoride in the drinking water
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:10pm
Handy Haversack:

↳ ultradamno @6:08
This was also part of the discussion!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:10pm
joe mulligan:

↳ Handy Haversack @6:07
I turn down x-rays at the dentist every time, until there's a fight. then I allow an x-ray a year or so later than that
  6:11pm
Sam:

↳ Handy Haversack @6:07
No no no! X-rays are absolutely essential. I lived in France for 9 years, never had dental x-rays, and when I moved back I had to get 4 implants and a couple root canals.
Avatar 6:11pm
joe_rosevear:

Hey, howdie!
Avatar 🤖 6:12pm
MarciB:

I get dental xrays every few years - maybe every 4-5, so that doesn't seem excessive. But it's never confortable or the process fast enough!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:12pm
Mark Hurst:

ultra, DiL, Hugo, Bas, StringOP, Handy, WtSG, Marci, Spikey, webham, Sam, Butterman, joe, joe_r - welcome to all of you!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:12pm
Webhamster Henry:

↳ Sam @6:11
Those Dental X-Rays find out a lot! However, I'm looking forward to when they can be replaced (can they? I dunno) with Terahertz imagery, non ionizing, and in many senses a great diagnostic!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:13pm
joe mulligan:

↳ Sam @6:11
that$ what the denti$t$ will tell you. even the implants and root canals have a radical and conservative side when it comes to when they need to be done
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:13pm
ultradamno:

How about the lead blankets they put over you when they do it...that's got to be a good one.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:13pm
Webhamster Henry:

↳ Webhamster Henry @6:12
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov... << I'm the kind of guy who gives references!
  6:13pm
HCF:

↳ Handy Haversack @6:07
My dentist in Germany does annual X-rays, targeting those areas in my mouth with old fillings that are poised to fail at some time.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:13pm
PaulRobeson1924:

Hi Hi Hi
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:14pm
Handy Haversack:

↳ Sam @6:11
I don't really have a dog in the fight, but my scientist friend was citing studies that there's no proof of benefits to annual x-rays from peer-reviewed studies. Make dental care free, and I'll come up with an opinion on x-rays.
  6:15pm
HCF:

So happy to able to listen live...usually I listen to the podcast due to the time-zone difference in my normal location. Hi Mark and all!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:15pm
Deano de los Muertos:

Howdy Mark and Sam and folx
  6:16pm
Sam:

↳ Handy Haversack @6:14
Every time I went to my French dentist he’d take a quick peek and say everything was fine and send me on my way. No cleanings, no x-rays, I thought my teeth were perfect and it was the exact opposite.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:16pm
Ciggy:

Every day I get a Space X notification for a new satellite launch.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:16pm
PaulRobeson1924:

www.f150online.com...
  6:16pm
Listener Robert:

I hope we're going to hear about alternative ways to do it.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:17pm
Mark Hurst:

Hi HCF :)
Avatar 🤖 6:17pm
Noir Lover:

Let's just hand the planet over to the next apex predator already. We can probably stream the ceremony on Netflix.
  6:17pm
Edward:

I'm looking up right now.
I can't see 1 satellite.
I don't get it...
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:17pm
joe mulligan:

↳ Song: "Interview with Sam Lawler"
stare at the night sky for a minute and you'll see these LEO/Starlink trains like watching planes arrive to the overcrowded landing strips at SFO
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:18pm
Mark Hurst:

↳ joe mulligan @6:17
Yep... Starlink trains coming up later in the interview!
  6:19pm
Listener Robert:

↳ Listener Robert @6:16
I mean doing what Starlink's supposed to do while putting less material into orbit than Starlink.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:19pm
StringOFperils:

A tandem issue with Star Link is Elon has you surrounded, and you can't get out. They're implemented today as representing super-fast internet, but do I trust Elon (Mr. F you) Musk? What might this comprehensive satellite net be used for tomorrow?
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:20pm
chresti:

Hi Mark and Sam! Techtonians!
  6:20pm
Edward:

However, I do see cell towers all day every day.
Cancer sticks.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:20pm
StringOFperils:

...Star Link also makes Earth-based astronomy much less viable, if not impossible
  6:21pm
Sam:

↳ Edward @6:20
Nothing ruins the night sky like the scourge of ultrabright LED lights.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:22pm
Webhamster Henry:

"Because WE CAN!"
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:22pm
Bas NL:

Think of all the rocket fuel spent on launching these satellites! I think it's about a ton per pound.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:23pm
Handy Haversack:

↳ Bas NL @6:22
Some sort of government-level efficiency group should really look into that.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:23pm
Spikey BXL:

↳ Spikey BXL @6:08
BOOM!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:23pm
StringOFperils:

↳ Handy Haversack @6:23
Wahhhhh.....auugggggggggggghh
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:23pm
Handy Haversack:

↳ Spikey BXL @6:23
Instant request!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:23pm
Bas NL:

Satellite pinball! :)
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:23pm
Dano59:

oh, well - Saskatchewan. Let it happen in Ohio and see them talk about regulation.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:23pm
Spikey BXL:

If you love earth, put a ring on it
  6:24pm
cbunny:

that’s kinda what happens to
me when i drink too much Kessler.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:24pm
ultradamno:

Ultra-bright LED lights in my rear view mirror are worse, never mind the sky
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:24pm
Mark Hurst:

↳ Dano59 @6:23
We've had space junk fall in both North Carolina and Florida, where the junk fell into someone's house.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:26pm
Mark Hurst:

↳ Bas NL @6:23
Play the game long enough and you'll get multiball!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:27pm
coelacanth∅:

to say a single collision doesn't exponentially increase the chances of more collisions is like saying 2 cars crashing on an icy road doesn't increase the chances of more crashes.
... but i'm sure this guy's a "genius" so...
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:27pm
Mark Hurst:

↳ Handy Haversack @6:23
Yep - you called it, Spikey
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:28pm
Dano59:

↳ Mark Hurst @6:24
I've noticed - but no crisis or danger is immediate enough to address if it's left up to our politicians.
And Musk only mucks up anything that will address it. I doubt 'sustainable solutions' is in the Tesla/SpaceX vocabulary.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:29pm
ultradamno:

It starts with space junk in your yard, then your crops are extra big but inedible...
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:29pm
Spikey BXL:

Call the Space Cowboy?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:29pm
Mark Hurst:

↳ Dano59 @6:28
True, sadly
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:29pm
Bas NL:

Hit by a Musk satellite? Free internet for life!
  6:30pm
Sam:

↳ ultradamno @6:29
We need to build a wall! In the sky!
  6:31pm
Sam:

Oh, they don’t send the men in black to erase your memory?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:31pm
StringOFperils:

Earth X is bad enough.
  6:32pm
wenzo:

They wouldn’t even say what kind of donuts they liked.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:32pm
Franco Twinkie:

She's funny!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:33pm
coelacanth∅:

↳ Franco Twinkie @6:32
interesting pronunciation of "virginia"
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:33pm
StringOFperils:

A piano falling on someone always gets a laugh.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:33pm
Webhamster Henry:

That satellite removal story is so "Close Encounters" -y.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:34pm
Mark Hurst:

↳ coelacanth∅ @6:33
Sam is based at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:34pm
Dano59:

wow. just wow. That interaction. with the cleanup crew reminded me of 'Endangered Species'
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:34pm
chresti:

That stuffin space link is cool!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:34pm
Webhamster Henry:

Deorbiting the ISS: www.nasa.gov...
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:35pm
StringOFperils:

The RCMP. Probably a good way to get your name on a 'list'
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:35pm
coelacanth∅:

↳ Mark Hurst @6:34
oh, "regina"! haha...i even backed up and re-listened to it
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:36pm
StringOFperils:

Elon needs to stoop and scoop.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:36pm
Handy Haversack:

↳ coelacanth∅ @6:35
" ... Mulva?"
  6:36pm
wenzo:

If any space junk lands in my yard I’m keeping it.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:36pm
Deano de los Muertos:

Let me be the first to say it: this Elon guy is a piece of crap
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:37pm
Dano59:

"SpaceX has not admitted it" -- unsurprising.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:37pm
Spikey BXL:

Fly tipping across the universe
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:37pm
PaulRobeson1924:

Power only has to answer to power
  6:37pm
Hugo:

You're not the first
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:37pm
ultradamno:

One has to wonder if Musk will make it all the way to being confirmed for heading up his made up government efficiency post before Trump sacks him for stealing focus
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:37pm
Peter from Saranac Lake NY:

Not surprising Elon doesn't answer questions / take responsibility.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:38pm
chresti:

Call Satellite Busters!
  6:38pm
wenzo:

Let me be the 848,467,443rd person to say… Musk is a piece of dog shit
  6:38pm
Hugo:

Perhaps muks will fly to Mars and won't come back?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:39pm
Franco Twinkie:

I saw it with my own eyes - SpaceX uses plywood as one of the ingredients in their rocket cockpits.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:39pm
ultradamno:

I'm starting to like Grok as an answer for the best tech question, I've never used it, but it keeps doing things to dig at Musk fortune.com...
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:40pm
Will thee SG OCNY:

Yet to comment, what a company.. lol
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:42pm
Spikey BXL:

Jordan's satellite would probably have perpetual hang time
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:43pm
Handy Haversack:

Sam should have a show! She has a great radio voice. I'm thinking ...

WORDS IN SPACE ... !
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:43pm
Handy Haversack:

Rubenstein is a good writer. We published a book she wrote on the multiverse.
Avatar 6:44pm
Fishman:

But at the root of this is that Elon Musk is right, and we are all stupid. At least in his sick mind
  6:44pm
Hugo:

She sounds like a surfer girl, very cool
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:45pm
Deano de los Muertos:

“Ask the government for help” is not a very encouraging answer
  6:45pm
Panther:

Am I the only one who thinks this woman is not very knowledgeable? She just gives anecdotal information.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:45pm
Handy Haversack:

So if government treated high-speed internet as a basic utility and delivered it everywhere just like electricity, that would take away all justification Musk might gin up ...
  6:45pm
Hugo:

Very,very smart surfer girl
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:45pm
Franco Twinkie:

↳ Handy Haversack @6:43
I second that! I could listen to Doctor Samantha to all day.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:46pm
PaulRobeson1924:

The traffic lights turn blue tomorrow
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:48pm
ultradamno:

mastodon.social...
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:48pm
Spikey BXL:

Thx for the update, Sam.
Merci Mark
  6:49pm
Edward:

The sky is falling!!
Look out.
It sucks being victimized
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:50pm
ultradamno:

Once we get to Mars we will be one step closer to moving to Ganymede
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:50pm
Webhamster Henry:

It's supposed to be a good night for Leonids in case you want to see some natural skyfall.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:51pm
Handy Haversack:

I'm going to start cooking. Thanks, Mark! Thanks, Dr. Sam! This was great.
Avatar 6:51pm
StuartR:

Catchy tune.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:51pm
Bas NL:

Thanks Mark! Thanks Sam!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:52pm
DjLorraine:

↳ Franco Twinkie @6:39
Well breathing formeldehyde is not good either
  6:53pm
Edward:

If anything hits you there's nothing you can do.
It's llegal to sue them.
Avatar 6:53pm
VantuckyEd:

umm how many of these satellite have radioactive isotopes in them?
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:54pm
PaulRobeson1924:

The internet, so far, is a bigger flop than the moving image!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:54pm
StringOFperils:

We have moons. Many many moons. We have more moons than anybody ever had in history ever. I'm the father of moons actually. Really great moons. The best moons you're gonna love 'em.
  6:54pm
Toothgrinder Tom:

Kessler syndrome = Keppler’s syndrome?
  6:54pm
Toothgrinder Tom:

I’m pouring myself another whisky.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:55pm
Franco Twinkie:

↳ DjLorraine @6:52
No it's not. But I'm sure Elroy isn't concerned with anyone's health. Someone should ask RFK Jr. what he thinks about space junk.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
ultradamno:

Whatever it is, Kennedy will change it if he has too a57.foxnews.com...
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
PaulRobeson1924:

Thank you Mr.Mark
  6:56pm
greg g:

Thank you Mark Hurst and Sam Lawler! Scary yet engaging and glad for the humor. Keep up the good work!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
ultradamno:

...err, *to
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:57pm
bleubombersune:

Thanks Mark
  6:57pm
HCF:

Thanks for another great show.
  6:58pm
Bryan:

I had to tune in for Sam Lawler. I'll be sharing the archive link with others.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:58pm
Franco Twinkie:

Thank you Mark. I for one, don't want space junk to fall on my cats.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:59pm
Mark Hurst:

Thanks, everyone, good comments!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:59pm
StringOFperils:

Thanks Mark and SL. Keep looking up!
  6:59pm
james the gann:

Great show!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:59pm
Mark Hurst:

↳ james the gann @6:59
Thanks, james the gann
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 7:00pm
Will thee SG OCNY:

Thank you Mark and Sam!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 7:01pm
DjLorraine:

With may farady catsuit, thanks Mark!
Avatar 7:01pm
Fishman:

OMG! One of the most annoying Yes tunes ever
  7:02pm
Roberta:

What’s the name of that book again by Mary someone?
  7:05pm
Bryan:

Roberta: see the links above the playlist
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