Mourning the Night Sky
I got so much trouble on my mind
I refuse to lose …
~ lyrics, Public Enemy, Welcome to the Terrordome
I’ve declared to my children it’s time I face my fears and just start writing.
One can only hope to summon a fraction of power in prose as Chuck D, but, here it goes.
Mourning the Night Sky
Story References (so you know I’m not making this up):
SpaceX’s Starlink project
FAA Approves Small Drone Flight
Take: If you’re polluting the night sky — you’re wrong. If you’re doing it for a future city on Mars, or to get a package to me faster — go fuck yourself.
Recently looking out at the evening sky, there it was a string a lights arcing over us and in that moment we experienced a WTF kind of excitement. I texted my children to look to the western horizon and check out the lights. “So cool”.
It wasn’t soon after I read in Sky News the string of lights were SpaceX’s Starlink satellites and it took me from WTF excitement to, WTF we can’t let this happen.
From the article: Elon has claimed SpaceX plans to make its satellites “generally invisible to the naked eye within a week of launch” following complaints about light pollution.
“Generally invisible” is highly suspicious untrustworthy terminology, especially when they call them “satellite constellations.” Randomly catching a satellite racing across the sky was a tiny yet fun bummer. Watching a satellite constellations rise and overtake the sky — not cool.
Not relenting, news about the FAA approving small drone flights at night is released.
From the Reuters article: operations at night and over people “are important steps towards enabling integration of drones into our national airspace.”
FAA Administrator Steve Dickson is quoted in the article saying, “The new rules make way for the further integration of drones into our airspace by addressing safety and security concerns. They get us closer to the day when we will more routinely see drone operations such as the delivery of packages.”
Are we supposed to celebrate this? I’m not psyched for nighttime drone traffic.
Those of us wanting to remain human are going need an escape from technological intrusions. The desert sky at night always felt like wild and unassailable gift. I mourn its loss for all humanity.
