Is there really even a risk of orbit pollution from multiple GPS satellite companies?
GPS has only 31 satellites and they orbit at a far distance of like 12,550 miles from earth.
Starlink alone has over 7000 satellites and plans for 12,000 by 2026 and possibly 30,000 beyond that. And they orbit at a distance of 340-382 miles.
You could have thousands of GPS satellite companies before even matching the orbit pollution of Starlink alone.
I am not saying that satellite internet shouldn't be done by a singular governmental org. But to say the reason they did it was to prevent un-necessary orbit pollution doesn't seem like a very strong reason.
I think that it was done because it doesn't really cost anything to allow the GPS signals to be used by everyone, and because it costs a lot to launch satellites.
Internet satellites are a whole different story because they deal with signal bandwidth limits in both directions, so there is a cost per user added to use them.
GPS has only 31 satellites and they orbit at a far distance of like 12,550 miles from earth.
Starlink alone has over 7000 satellites and plans for 12,000 by 2026 and possibly 30,000 beyond that. And they orbit at a distance of 340-382 miles.
You could have thousands of GPS satellite companies before even matching the orbit pollution of Starlink alone.
I am not saying that satellite internet shouldn't be done by a singular governmental org. But to say the reason they did it was to prevent un-necessary orbit pollution doesn't seem like a very strong reason.
I think that it was done because it doesn't really cost anything to allow the GPS signals to be used by everyone, and because it costs a lot to launch satellites.
Internet satellites are a whole different story because they deal with signal bandwidth limits in both directions, so there is a cost per user added to use them.