this post was submitted on 22 Apr 2026
326 points (97.4% liked)

World News

55668 readers
2655 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] x00z@lemmy.world 25 points 1 day ago (3 children)

I don't understand what kind of capitalist pig you need to be to allow private companies access to low orbit.

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 14 points 21 hours ago


just some random capitalist here

[–] CheetahHybrid@pawb.social 8 points 22 hours ago (3 children)

It's impossible to regulate space. Even if your government put restrictions on putting things in orbit, the company could just launch under the flag of somewhere else. Blanket banning of commercial space programs would require a universal treaty or would lead to an act of war. Im not saying the US shouldn't try and do something about space trash, but it's not as simple as "just ban corporations from space"

[–] Ismay@programming.dev 10 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

There is like 10 launch site in the world. The fuck we can't regulate that ?!

We simply don't want to.

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 7 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

SpaceX bought a retired oil platform at one point to try and use as a launch point. It didnt work, but if you told them they couldn't launch from land they'd probably figure a way out.

[–] utopiah@lemmy.world 1 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

Doesn't matter, authorities in the jurisdiction where they are based and also where there clients are can just fine them into oblivion. This government won't but they could, if they wanted to. That's the whole point of the law, regulators "just" have to write it down for it to become what everybody must follow, or have terrible consequences. They don't have to be physically blocked. It's not a technical problem.

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 1 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

That's a bigger thing than just closing the spaceports to private companies as OP was suggesting.

That would likely be politically more difficult to pull off than closing existing ports.

edit: Just to clarify, one is saying, sorry you can't use our public resources. The other is saying, sorry you can't build your own resources either.

[–] yogurt@lemmy.world 2 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Space is extremely regulated, SpaceX just gets permits approved to do anything they want because they're extremely cooperative with the US military and CIA.

Rocket Lab is a private rocket company that launches from New Zealand, but part of the company is in the US so they still have to get an FAA license to launch from any country. No matter where SpaceX goes they would need FAA and FCC licensing.

That regulation involves the deorbiting of a satellite at the end of its life, isn't it ?

[–] floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Both construction and launch facilities are highly specialized and expensive, there's a reason only a handful of countries have them. You can't just ship your rocket to Micronesia and launch from a grassy field

[–] finallymadeanaccount@lemmy.world 2 points 17 hours ago

You can't?

FINE! I'LL JUST GO HOME THEN!

[–] glitch1985@lemmy.world 6 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

Is it regulated? What's stopping me from putting up a satellite?

[–] floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 22 hours ago (1 children)
[–] glitch1985@lemmy.world 2 points 18 hours ago

That's the apple thing right? I'm sure I can figure it out if I put my mind to it.

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 3 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

yo momma would give you such a smacking

[–] glitch1985@lemmy.world 5 points 19 hours ago

That's a risk I'm willing to take.