The future of astronomy is both on Earth and in space
This is an excellent article explaining why astronomy can't just move to orbit, as some people call for. Please read the whole thing before responding.
>. If debris generation continues unchecked, various orbital regimes could become increasingly hazardous to use, complicating not only scientific missions but also weather monitoring, GPS, communications and other services that modern societies (and their economies) rely on every day.
I disagree. The massive satelite build-up is happening mostly in LEO while those applications are in different orbits. Proposed telescopes favor L2. Constellations buildup would not threaten those.
Also where it comes to overall importance, I’d say that astronomy is around 3 tiers below Starlink when it comes to utility and overall impact on quality of people’s livesÂ
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>. If debris generation continues unchecked, various orbital regimes could become increasingly hazardous to use, complicating not only scientific missions but also weather monitoring, GPS, communications and other services that modern societies (and their economies) rely on every day.
I disagree. The massive satelite build-up is happening mostly in LEO while those applications are in different orbits. Proposed telescopes favor L2. Constellations buildup would not threaten those.
Also where it comes to overall importance, I’d say that astronomy is around 3 tiers below Starlink when it comes to utility and overall impact on quality of people’s livesÂ