"A bit of me feels that the horse has bolted and we're in catch-up mode at this point."
But: "There's a social good element to what the satellite operators are doing and you've got to balance that against possible impacts to things like radio astronomy."
If you haven't noticed, radio astronomers worldwide are getting very shouty at radio frequency interference (RFI - akin to light pollution) increasing.
We create these multi-billion, grand-scale projects in specifically legislated radio quiet zones away from human populations to ensure we have the best capabilities to detect the faintest signals from the furthers reaches of the cosmos.
Then along comes the RFI from satellite constellations.
#Enshittification of the sky continues: After shitting in optical #astronomy pool, new exciting development appears: to shit all over both optical and #radioastronomy at once!
Whoever can, please send your opinion to FCC. No need to be US citizen. #Sky is for billions, not for billionaires.
♲ mastodon.social/
Bad news for radio astronomy AND optical astronomy. Not only is 'Supplemental Coverage from Space' (aka direct-to-cell) transmission unregulated at this point, but the 2nd generation of #BlueBird satellites will be monstrously large reflectors of sunlight.