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Rocket Lab Criticized For Launching Their Own Private 'Star' Into Orbit (newsweek.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the fake-stars dept.

Newsweek reports: A private satellite company launched a three-foot-wide, carbon-fiber orb called the Humanity Star into the sky last week. Rocket Lab has promised the Humanity Star will be "the brightest thing in the sky," presumably other than the sun. The orb will reflect light from the sun back to Earth to achieve this effect. It's expected to orbit the Earth once every 90 minutes for the next nine months before it falls out of the sky and burns up in the atmosphere. The reaction on social media has been largely swift and scornful...

The stated goal of the project, at least, seems admirable: "No matter where you are in the world, rich or in poverty, in conflict or at peace, everyone will be able to see the bright, blinking Humanity Star orbiting Earth in the night sky," Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck said in a statement on the project's website. "Wait for when the Humanity Star is overhead, and take your loved ones outside to look up and reflect. You may just feel a connection to the more than 7 billion other people on this planet we share this ride with."
Slashdot reader dmoberhaus writes that "astronomers are annoyed by what they perceive as just another piece of space junk getting in the way."

"Wow. Intentionally bright long-term space graffiti. Thanks a lot Rocket Lab," complained an astronomer at the California Institute of Technology. And one New Zealand journalist accused Rocket Lab of "vandalising the night sky with shiny space rubbish."

9 of 265 comments (clear)

  1. Congratulations - you've invented Sputnik! by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 3, Insightful

    >> a three-foot-wide, carbon-fiber orb...will reflect light from the sun back to Earth to achieve this effect..."No matter where you are in the world, rich or in poverty, in conflict or at peace, everyone will be able to see the bright, blinking Humanity Star orbiting Earth in the night sky" said (crazy leader)

    Congratulations - you've invented Sputnik!

  2. or... by JediJorgie · · Score: 2, Insightful

    > You may just feel a connection to the more than 7 billion other people on this planet we share this ride with.

    If you want to feel a connection with the others on the planet, how about you take the millions this BS cost and use it to help bring clean water to the millions of people around the world that do not have access to it today?

    1. Re:or... by LWATCDR · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This was a test object for the launch vehicle. It did not cost millions. So do you go to the movies? Drink alcohol? Play video games? Why don't you use that money to help bring clean water to people that need it?

      Yes this was a bad idea and a little bit self-indulgent but overall not super evil or expensive.

      --
      See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    2. Re:or... by Brett+Buck · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Given that "bringing clean water to the millions" is not a matter of throwing money at the problem, your comment makes *no sense*.

              Everyone needs to understand - the world produces FAR more than required to simply support the population, VASTLY, and in a lot of cases, we are operating far below capacity because there is no point in making any more.

              Poverty, famine, dirty drinking water, most disease, are all *political* problems that could rapidly be eliminated if you removed the political barriers. In many cases, solving the problem would simply mean killing off brutal dictatorships and tribal leaders that cause the vast majority of pain in the world while trying to grab power. Unless you are willing to do that, all the money in the world will not solve the issue, in fact, sending more money to areas where problems exist would certainly make the problem much worse.

  3. Do you want Kessler? by sinij · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Do you want Kessler? Because that's how you get Kessler!

  4. Re:Actually . . . by gravewax · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I can understand looking up to see the ISS as being kinda cool. Looking up to see a glowing piece of space junk they wasted millions to get up their! not cool, not even close to cool. Actually it is almost offensive. If they wanted to bring people together then spend it helping people or on something with some worthwhile outcome rather than a piece of junk that will disappear in 2 years.

  5. Re:Actually . . . by JoshuaZ · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The problem is the sort of general precedent and concern about what happens in the long-term as launch costs go down even further. This object is deliberately bright, unlike the ISS which just happens to be bright because it is big. What happens if McDonald's decides to put a set of 30 of these shiny balls that form a constellation in the shape of an M?

  6. Re:Uhhh... by Solandri · · Score: 1, Insightful
    Most satellites and junk is invisible. They only flare up when they're at a specific angle between the sun (or moon) and your location. This thing is intentionally designed with multiple facets to reflect sunlight/moonlight from multiple angles, thereby greatly increasing the odds that it'll screw up the photograph or measurements you're taking of a patch of sky.

    Who gives a shit if one piece of space junk floats up there... at least it's only ONE PIECE of space junk.

    Who gives a shit if one piece of trash is thrown into the environment. At least its only ONE PIECE of trash.

    Either something is wrong or it's not. The amount of pieces can scale the degree of wrongness, but cranking it all the way down to one piece doesn't turn a wrong into a right.

  7. Looks like a flop to me? by mark_osmd · · Score: 5, Insightful

    heavens-above.com shows it as about 5 to 8 mag over my location for the next set of passes (see 9 Mar - 19 Mar) http://heavens-above.com/PassS... Which is hardly "the brightest thing in the sky other than the Sun" and not even naked eye visible at all even at 5.0 mag if you're at a light polluted area. It's possible the heavens-above estimate is low for the magnitude? Your plain old LEO satellites will beat these magnitudes all the time, I've seen many from the dark skys of Nebraska when I was there in an astronomy club. But you had to look right at dusk when the sky was just getting dark but so the Sun was still hitting the satellite. The Humanity Star will go dark just like any other LEO sat because it goes into shadow so quickly due to the low orbit.