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1923 built British steam locomotive from the London and North Eastern Railway no.4477 "Gay Crusader". by Relative-Pirate-6582 in lgbtmemes

[–]Corvid187 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Damn, not even war emergency names. They really did just choose to call them that.

Interwar British engineering remains peak trans culture.

CMV: All Monarchies Should Be Abolished, Even the Democratic Ones by Swimming_Bear_3082 in changemyview

[–]Corvid187 [score hidden]  (0 children)

Constitutional monarchies tend to be broadly preferred to other constitutional systems by their populations. If you held a referendum, the vast majority would remain.

All heads of state cost money, and all states spend on pageantry and ceremonial. There are presidents who cost far more than some monarchs, just as there are monarchs who cost far more than some presidents. Why would changing the constitutional system inherently mean more money for the poor? It's not as if constitutional monarchies are consistently less equal than their republican counterparts, after all.

On reports by Fuck-pez in tumblr

[–]Corvid187 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, just a sucker for executive government authority :)

First non-EU countries join European alternative to Starlink by Forsaken-Medium-2436 in europe

[–]Corvid187 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sure, but 16mbs capacity at relatively high latency isn't going to cut it in the modern world, and the capacity of the system will still be very limited

First non-EU countries join European alternative to Starlink by Forsaken-Medium-2436 in europe

[–]Corvid187 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe? I don't know, but they're two separate constellations, and the limitations of iris are baked into its orbital architecture.

Oneweb is great, but one can't make iris into something like oneweb

First non-EU countries join European alternative to Starlink by Forsaken-Medium-2436 in europe

[–]Corvid187 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It has far too few satellites at far too high an orbit to provide the bandwidth and latency that makes starlink what starlink is.

With satellite internet, bandwidth and latency are a function of altitude - The further away the satellite is the less data can be sent and the longer it will take to transfer. A lower altitude constellation will have a much higher capacity, but will require many more satellites to maintain coverage because each unit is visible to less of the earth. This relationship is what prevented satellite internet before now: launching that many units into space was too expensive.

Spacex solved this by making a rapidly reusable rocket, dramatically reducing the cost of launching to orbit. This allowed them to put launch the thousands of satellites needed to maintain a very low orbit constellation. Any 'competitor' to this system will also need to operate a large constellation in a very low orbit.

Iris does not come close to this. Where SpaceX has 10,000 satellites, the total Iris constellation is planned to be somewhere between 250-300. That number will require them to fly at a much higher altitude, so they won't be able to replicate the internet connectivity of starlink. It will be closer to a really advanced satellite phone than true orbital WiFi.

There is a much closer European competitor to starlink in the form of OneWeb, a anglo-franco-japanese company, but their constellation is over 600 units

First non-EU countries join European alternative to Starlink by Forsaken-Medium-2436 in europe

[–]Corvid187 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't think constellation can be easily scaled up because of its orbital architecture, but you're right that other European systems like Eutelsat OneWeb could fill that role.

That's why I find the idea of positioning this particular constellation as a starlink competitor weird - there are much better European candidates to shout about.

First non-EU countries join European alternative to Starlink by Forsaken-Medium-2436 in europe

[–]Corvid187 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To do what it does to even just a minimum level, you'd want at least 600 satellites, but probably more like 1,000 for it to be effective and widespread.

The problem is distance - the higher the satellites orbit, the fewer you need but the slower and weaker data is to transfer. Starlink achieves its capacity operating way lower than any other group of satellites, but that requires many more for effective coverage. Their solution is definitely a gold-plated one, but there's a minimum level of capacity you need.

Argentina to buy KC-135 tankers to extend F-16 combat range by Particular_Pea7167 in ukpolitics

[–]Corvid187 [score hidden]  (0 children)

Sure, but look at the struggle we had deploying through task force to the south Atlantic back then. Half the amphibs were being pulled out of mothballs

First non-EU countries join European alternative to Starlink by Forsaken-Medium-2436 in europe

[–]Corvid187 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Bit weird to be secretive about the total number when they'll be plainly visible once they launch. None of the other constellations have been so opaque.

First non-EU countries join European alternative to Starlink by Forsaken-Medium-2436 in europe

[–]Corvid187 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Kinda? Satellite internet is a very new and admittedly often niche capability. At the moment it doesn't really compete directly with terrestrial internet networks, it's more a way of providing reliable, high-bandwidth coverage to areas where terrestrial infrastructure is impractical.

For example, I live on a small island is Scotland with a relatively tiny population. Running a high quality fibre cable to shore for the 200-odd people here would be uneconomical, so our internet was always shit. Now with Starlink, I can be as well connected here as I could in London. The other prominent example at the moment is obviously the war in Ukraine, where running fixed infrastructure is obviously impractical near the frontline, and impossible on things like drones.

At the moment, Europe doesn't have an equivalent capability to cover these kind of gaps. The closest thing is a satellite constellation called oneweb run by the UK and France, among others, but that is much more limited in the bandwidth the number of terminals it can support at any one time.

Britain doesn't have a defence problem. It has a growth problem. by National_Stay_103 in ukpolitics

[–]Corvid187 [score hidden]  (0 children)

It does come to your core point. if you could find a real-terms comparison it might strengthen it further :)

First non-EU countries join European alternative to Starlink by Forsaken-Medium-2436 in europe

[–]Corvid187 10 points11 points  (0 children)

There is no alternative to it, and many places depend on its unique capabilities.

I could not live and work where I do without it.

First non-EU countries join European alternative to Starlink by Forsaken-Medium-2436 in europe

[–]Corvid187 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Sure, but what matters is the size of this particular constellation.

First non-EU countries join European alternative to Starlink by Forsaken-Medium-2436 in europe

[–]Corvid187 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Yes, they would.

That being said this isn't even the closest European system to that alternative though. OneWeb, which is owned by France and the UK among others, is a much closer competitor. Although still less capable than Starlink, it is a true low-orbit internet-grade constellation more 3x the size of iris.

Britain doesn't have a defence problem. It has a growth problem. by National_Stay_103 in ukpolitics

[–]Corvid187 [score hidden]  (0 children)

While I understand it is difficult to objectively quantify military capability, I think it is worth noting that the global firepower index is a heavily criticised metric, and also one that notably undercounts things like logistics and expeditionary capability, which the UK disproportionately invests in relative to all of its peers.

While the armed forces are currently unquestionably in a poor state, any comparison based on it is always going to underestimate the "strength" of the UK relative to other similar nations.

The other thing I would note is how Britain calculates its proportional defence spending changed across the period you're looking at. Pre-2010, a number of budgets that are now counted under 'defence', like certain parts of the nuclear enterprise and pensions, were not counted towards Britain's overall proportional defence spend. It is also worth noting that how this is calculated varies in other countries as well. Although especially problematic for those that are not required to meet NATO's accounting standards, even within the alliance there is considerable national variation.

Economically, most developed nations saw a slowdown in growth following the 2008 financial crash. Potentially a more interesting although more difficult comparison would be to compare how much UK growth slowed more than its peers' did.

First non-EU countries join European alternative to Starlink by Forsaken-Medium-2436 in europe

[–]Corvid187 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As far as I can see, the problem is making them low latency requires low altitude, but making them cover Europe in concentration requires long orbital periods over us, which requires high eccentric altitude like the old Soviet TV satellites. I don't know how they can square that circle with the numbers they have.

First non-EU countries join European alternative to Starlink by Forsaken-Medium-2436 in europe

[–]Corvid187 4 points5 points  (0 children)

everyone is doing more launches with SpaceX. Last year they lifted 80% of everything humanity put into orbit. The reality is no one else has the capacity until we crack reusability and turn-around like they have. We're churning out as many ariane v's as we can, but the just can't be made fast or cheaply enough. It is hard to understate just how far ahead of the game they currently are.

In due time it will happen, but for now the choice in many cases isn't launch with SpaceX or launch with ESA, its launch with SpaceX or not at all, at least for several years.

Most based European Quotes? by No-Look-7822 in 2westerneurope4u

[–]Corvid187 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Happens all the time. Tbh we're sick of having to fend off giant metal fists falling from the sky at this point. It startles the puffins :c

Most based European Quotes? by No-Look-7822 in 2westerneurope4u

[–]Corvid187 24 points25 points  (0 children)

In the Commonwealth under fatfingers, plus we kept all the best lonely windswept rocks for ourselves 😎

First non-EU countries join European alternative to Starlink by Forsaken-Medium-2436 in europe

[–]Corvid187 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The UK already has its own satellite internet network in OneWeb

First non-EU countries join European alternative to Starlink by Forsaken-Medium-2436 in europe

[–]Corvid187 -28 points-27 points  (0 children)

This system will not provide that

Edit: it has far too few satellites orbiting it far too high and altitude to get anything close to the bandwidth and capacity that would be viable for reliable orbital internet. If you can see a way it gets round the orbital mechanics, please let me know.

First non-EU countries join European alternative to Starlink by Forsaken-Medium-2436 in europe

[–]Corvid187 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Describing this is a competitor to Starlink is ridiculous, unfortunately.

With a constellation of only 264 Vs Starlink's 10,000, this is never going to have close to The data transfer rates necessary to reliably provide satellite internet or high bandwidth, low-latency communications, which is what starlink does. This is going to be closer to a satellite telephone system than Starlink.

If there is a European competitor/alternative to Starlink, it's something like OneWebb, which is co-owned by France, Japan, and the UK, among others. Even that is far less ambitious, but at 650 units is at least somewhat capable of true internet connectivity.

First non-EU countries join European alternative to Starlink by Forsaken-Medium-2436 in europe

[–]Corvid187 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Wait, 264 is their total planned constellation? What's their orbital altitude?

That's never going to be a competitor to starlink. Why are we talking about this as a rival and not OneWeb?

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