Prof. Sam Lawler on nostr

@Prof. Sam Lawler 1785622012

Your periodic reminder that if you ever want to feel like a slacker just read the wikipedia bio of any astronaut. My goodness they are incredible people.

1

Prof. Sam Lawler

@Prof. Sam Lawler 1785597987

The book contract I signed a few days ago has a "no genAI" clause. Neither I, the author, nor the editor/publisher are allowed to use genAI. I am extremely happy about having that written officially in the document!

Lili Saintcrow @Lili Saintcrow · 2d

"...but what they should have done and what they did do are two different things, and we have to live in the now. And in the now, “AI” inputs are inherently untrustable, from a copyright perspective." https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/07/31/another-reason-not-to-use-ai-for-you Show more

Prof. Sam Lawler

@Prof. Sam Lawler 1785529833

I was trying to find a visualization or figure or something to include in yet another article I wrote about Reflect Orbital, and I honestly got so depressed that I had to stop.

This is not a plea for images. I don't want to see it. We'll all see it in our skies soon enough. Unless Reflect Orbital goes out of business. Doesn't seem likely, but I can dream.

Fuck you, Reflect Orbital.

Prof. Sam Lawler · 3d

Goodnight. (And by that I mean, I will make some more stupid plots of stupid techbro megaconstellations and then see those stupid plots when I close my eyes to go to bed.) https://files.mastodon.soc...

Prof. Sam Lawler @Prof. Sam Lawler 1785470666

Dang, I haven't had to run a simulation overnight for a while. Thanks for being fucking terrible and asking for a million satellites, SpaceX. You suck.

Prof. Sam Lawler

@Prof. Sam Lawler 1785466824

Goodnight.

(And by that I mean, I will make some more stupid plots of stupid techbro megaconstellations and then see those stupid plots when I close my eyes to go to bed.)

1

Prof. Sam Lawler

@Prof. Sam Lawler 1785450268

Well, there's a public website here where you can register to attend Reflect Orbital's ribbon cutting ceremony: https://luma.com/h6fva5ve

It's in like an hour. Is there anybody in LA interested in politely expressing their opinions about orbital mirrors to the people building them?

Prof. Sam Lawler

@Prof. Sam Lawler 1785447435

14yo just came into my office grinning and excitedly holding a duck (yes, it's one of our ducks, no, I don't know why, and yes, she took the duck back outside). Just another work-from-home afternoon on the farm...

note1wu97z...

Prof. Sam Lawler @Prof. Sam Lawler 1785436342

New (12-yr-old, refurbished) fridge is now in the kitchen! Have to wait a few hours to plug it in. Then I get to enjoy the luxury of a house fridge again. I hope it lasts a few more years?

Also had to take the doors off the house to get the fridge inside, so now the house is fulllllll of flies. Sigh.

Prof. Sam Lawler · 4d

This company also posted an ex parte filing (which means they had a super special extra FCC meeting), their satellites are too fucking huge to even be physically possible. They just can't fucking do ...

Prof. Sam Lawler @Prof. Sam Lawler 1785427879

Sure, completely untested, brand-fucking-new company that has never built or launched a satellite. You can definitely launch 20,000 of the biggest satellites ever built.

Oh apparently their first demo mission is scheduled for OCTOBER 2026? Gosh these guys are fucking unreal. The mission is listed as "power beaming demonstration"

What does that even fucking mean? Guess they're going to fry some birds and maybe some pilots? Hm. Watch for that I guess.

Prof. Sam Lawler · 4d

After modelling this in detail, I can say that that these companies can't even do basic geometry, apparently. They want tens of thousands of satellites to have 24 hour sunlight, so sun-synchronous te...

Prof. Sam Lawler @Prof. Sam Lawler 1785427725

This company also posted an ex parte filing (which means they had a super special extra FCC meeting), their satellites are too fucking huge to even be physically possible. They just can't fucking do this.

My estimate from looking at this ridiculous sketch is 8x60x10m solar panels... that's a reflecting area of 4800 m^2. The International Space Station, the biggest thing in orbit, has a solar panel area of about 3400 m^2.

1

Prof. Sam Lawler · 4d

Cowboy Space (I hate their name so much) published their consolidated response a week ago but we just noticed it. We either have 3 days or 8 days to respond now. So... I guess I have to read this sh...

Prof. Sam Lawler @Prof. Sam Lawler 1785427385

After modelling this in detail, I can say that that these companies can't even do basic geometry, apparently. They want tens of thousands of satellites to have 24 hour sunlight, so sun-synchronous terminator orbits, baybeeee!

But as Hugh Lewis pointed out (I know, ew, linkedin sorry) https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sun-always-shines-tv-hugh-lewis-tlkbe/ IT DOESN'T FUCKING WORK unless you're above 1400km altitude. And then you're not in the *magical* low-latency low-altitude zone that these companies actually want for fast comms.

1

Prof. Sam Lawler

@Prof. Sam Lawler 1785427155

Cowboy Space (I hate their name so much) published their consolidated response a week ago but we just noticed it. We either have 3 days or 8 days to respond now. So... I guess I have to read this shit. Swearing a lot here will get me through it.

A reminder: this is the 4th company that wants to launch fucking enormous "AI data center" satellites into sun-synchronous terminator orbits, giving Earth a ring. This particular company wants 20,000 satellites in one ring.

1

Recent Notes