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The function these satellites serve is 1000x more valuable than the cost of inconveniencing a few astronomers.

Rural communities are being enriched all over the world through high speed internet access.

I think I have a different idea of "valuable". Rural communities need connectivity for sure - but we also need reliable radio astronomy for a whole host of reasons - space weather forcasting, terrestrial weather forecasting, scientific advancement.... without radio astronomy, there wouldn't even be satellites to put cat videos on!

Huh? How does radio astronomy affect space or terrestrial weather forecasting?

https://public.nrao.edu/ask/can-radio-telescopes-be-used-in-...

Launching tens of thousands of satellites is better than municipal internet, which would serve the same purpose, be cheaper, and not interfere with critical scientific research? This solution is better only for the private internet oligopolies. I would say astronomical research is orders of magnitude more important than that.

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