[Starlink] Re: Starlink and Iran

Michael Richardson
2026-01-17T18:32:04Z

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Ulrich Speidel <u.speidel@auckland.ac.nz> wrote:
>> 1. Who checks/enforces this ITU limit?

> The licensing authorities in the respective countries (i.e., the FCC in the
> US - and they're held to account by their competitors, of which SpaceX has a
> few in the US). At an international level, if one country were to
> ignore

Yes, but dieselgate. Obey, except when it is important not to.

>> 2. Could the physically satellites go higher over some territory? How much higher?
>> I assume it's software controlled.

> A satellite has three types of energy that determine its orbital motion:
> Potential energy from orbital height, kinetic energy from moving, and
> energy

Sorry, you mis-understood, or I mis-typed, I now understand.
I meant, go to a higher-power. Not a higher orbit :-)

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(Has anyone proposed eliptical orbits for LEOs or MEOs, such that they would
be lower whenever they are over the service territory, and higher otherwise.
I imagine it would be horribly complex to work out, given various
precessions, and it's not clear to me why. I think because less drag when
not low down...)

--
] Never tell me the odds! | ipv6 mesh networks [
] Michael Richardson, Sandelman Software Works | IoT architect [
] mcr@sandelman.ca http://www.sandelman.ca/ | ruby on rails [