Comment by wtcactus 2 days ago
"To maximize safety for all satellites in space, SpaceX will be making Stargaze conjunction data available to all operators, free of charge, via its space-traffic management platform."
Many people don't still realize it, but the problem of low orbit debris is only getting worse. So, this is a really nice gesture. Thank you, Elon Musk.
You too can start your own space exploration company if you are lucky enough to somehow obtain capital and your luck compounds sufficiently from that capital.
That luck is out of grasp of the vast majority of the population. It isn't a matter of effort, but mostly luck. Playing the lottery is not a realistic strategy to put forth from a monopoly competition perspective. 90% of startups fail, for example. They worked hard, but were unlucky.
SpaceX has a very, very large financial interest in avoiding collisions. Providing this service helps ensure that.
The US already provides publicly accessible conjunction avoidance data based on data points they have. They don't have the same number of satellites in the sky to make real time observations in as many different directions though.
> so, these systems should have existed for decades now.
Dubious. Perhaps if Congress could be persuaded to invest in tons of radio telescopes / radars, positioned all around the world, but good luck with that. The space-based approach used by SpaceX is something that presently only SpaceX is equipped to implement. Tracking star conjunctions only gives you high quality data on space debris / satellite maneuvers if you have a huge net of star trackers in orbit, and that's something which only SpaceX has been able to do.
The one advantage of monopolies is that they tend the commons.