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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."

10 of 265 comments (clear)

  1. An amusing combination of factors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Astronomers without access to space-based telescopes are annoyed because someone is giving them yet another light source they have to remove from their observations. (Ask any astronomer how they feel about the moon.)

    1. Re:An amusing combination of factors by ClickOnThis · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Because it's space. This is the first space troll. Space trolling on a commercial scale. Now you need space cops to put them in space jail. But you have to get to space first.

      The people who did this are on earth, not in space.

      There is such a thing as space law. Per the info at this link, it covers such principles as:

      non-appropriation of outer space by any one country, arms control, the freedom of exploration, liability for damage caused by space objects, the safety and rescue of spacecraft and astronauts, the prevention of harmful interference with space activities and the environment, the notification and registration of space activities, scientific investigation and the exploitation of natural resources in outer space and the settlement of disputes.

      (Emphasis mine.) Has Rocket Lab broken space law? I don't know, IANAspaceL. But whether they have or not, I suppose they could be sued by anyone who is harmed or nuisanced by their activity, just like you could sue a neighbor who shines a spotlight into your front window, or plays their stereo too loud.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
  2. Actually . . . by jshackney · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This seems kinda cool to me. I get texts that let me know when the ISS will be overhead (usually 1 or 2 days in advance), and they tell me where to look, what time, and give me a rough elevation where the ISS will be visible and where it will disappear. Maybe the Humanity Star gang could take some notes.

    1. 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?

  3. 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!

  4. Re:Tracking info by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 3, Funny

    I have tracking info: 1ZE680080304050194, carrier UPS.

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    #DeleteFacebook
  5. 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.
  6. 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.

  7. Eh, bright? by Ecuador · · Score: 5, Informative

    No idea why anyone is upset. Sure, if you start putting dozens of disco balls in orbit there might be an issue, but this one you can't even see! When they say "bright" they mean that once every quite a few days it might pass above you in just the right orientation and angle from the sun so that one of its mirrors hit you directly during the night with sunlight at a maximum brightness of... magnitude 4.2... If you don't know what that means, it is about as bright as the stars in the middle of the little dipper "handle", the ones you can't see from the city. So cities are out, rural areas can see it, but still it is nowhere as bright as other satellites, ISS etc.
    In any case best data for when/how bright: heavens above.

    --
    Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
  8. 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.