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by willdr 1071 days ago
They got approval to pollute the LEO of planet Earth? Who could you possibly go to for approval for that?
2 comments

Bluntly, the people with the power to stop you from doing so. For SpaceX, that means the US government via the FCC.
Yes, granted by the FCC.
The FCC is the LEO authority for the whole planet?
There is no LEO authority over the entire world. In fact, and this may shock you, there are hardly any global authorities. Except for the sanctions and war China, for example, could decide to poison all oceans.
> is no LEO authority over the entire world

The closest thing is the Outer Space Treaty, which assigns responsibility to governments [1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Space_Treaty

Actually it would be the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space usually referred to as COPUOS. (I usually pronounce it cope-you-us because it’s slightly easier than cope-you-os for me)

Quoting a key part from its Wikipedia page …

“Resolution 1721 also further cemented the committee's role in preserving space for peaceful purposes. It stated that international law and the UN Charter applied in outer space and directed the committee to study and report on legal problems arising from space exploration. It directed all states to inform the committee of all launches into space for the UN's public registry. It directed the committee to keep close contact with governmental and non-governmental organizations concerned with space matters, as well as to act as an exchange of information relating to space activities.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Committee_on_th...

They're the authority for anything that launches from the US and that transmits on RF. If Starlink interferes with US science the FCC definitely takes that into consideration.
Then let that stay over the US. I'm sick of seeing my sky polluted with moving dots.

"But it's not much" you'll say. Yeah, wait another 10-20 years, with all the additional shit launched into space.

> I'm sick of seeing my sky polluted with moving dots

And wind turbines’ neighbours find them unsightly and the new Virgin Hotel on 29th Street blocks some of my sunlight. This isn’t a novel problem.

Sure. Do you mean we should stop caring?