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December 2021
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Space X Engine Production Woes Could Screw Up Musk's Starlink Broadband Play

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We'd already noted how Elon Musk's Starlink isn't going to be the broadband disruption play many people had imagined. The service lacks the capacity to really provide broadband to more than 500,000 to 800,000 users during its first few years in operation (for context, somewhere between 20 and 40 million Americans lack access to broadband, and another 83 million live under a broadband monopoly). With a $100 monthly cost and a $500 first month equipment fee, it's also not doing any favors for the millions of Americans who lack access to affordable broadband.Eventually, with a fully upgraded fleet of 42,000 low orbit satellites years from now, Wall Street analysts estimate Starlink could potentially reach upwards of 6 million users. But again that's an optimistic high end guess, and it requires that everything go swimmingly the next few years.Everything is not going swimmingly. Chip shortages initially delayed Starlink's exit out of beta. And now a new leaked email suggests that Musk is warning about a potential bankruptcy for Space X if the company can't sort out production of the company's Raptor engine:

"Unfortunately, the Raptor production crisis is much worse than it had seemed a few weeks ago. As we have dug into the issues following the exiting of prior senior management, they have unfortunately turned out to be far more severe than was reported. There is no way to sugarcoat this...What it comes down to, is that we face a genuine risk of bankruptcy if we can't achieve a Starship flight rate of at least once every two weeks next year."
Will Heltsley, former SpaceX senior vice president of propulsion, recently left Space X due to a lack of progress on the project. In the email, Musk makes it clear that if things don't improve, Starlink could also be in deep trouble:
"The consequences for SpaceX if we can not get enough reliable Raptors made is that we then can't fly Starship, which means we then can't fly Starlink Satellite V2 (Falcon has neither the volume nor the mass to orbit needed for satellite V2). Satellite V1, by itself, is financially weak, while V2 is strong."
One problem, of course, is that Starlink is poised to receive millions in FCC subsidies to bolster a service that may not be financially viable several years from now. The Trump FCC already faced a scandal after it announced it would be doling out nearly a billion dollars to the planet's richest man (who professes a performative disdain for government subsidies) to deliver broadband to some traffic medians and parking lots. The Biden administration is scaling back the scope of the hand out after backlash, but Musk's Starlink is still poised to receive tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars.Those subsidies are dependent on Starlink meeting certain projected deployment goals Musk's newly leaked email suggests they won't be able to actually meet if things don't turn around quickly:
So again, the question then becomes: why is the FCC continuing to dole out millions in subsidies for a service that may not even exist in a few years? Especially when that money can be used to help fund future-proof and already proven fiber deployments across countless communities? Starlink does have the potential to provide some help to shore up U.S. broadband access, but even before these latest problems its full potential reach was limited. And the world's richest man, who routinely professes a disdain for subsidies and "freeloading," has made it abundantly clear he doesn't want or need government financial help.

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posted at: 12:00am on 08-Dec-2021
path: /Policy | permalink | edit (requires password)

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New Jersey Cop Facing Charges After Hitting A Man With His Car And Driving His Body To His Mom's House

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There's something different about being a cop. The training, the atmosphere, the culture… all of it leads to officers handling crime differently than regular people. Even when they're the ones committing it.A normal person doesn't do the things Newark police officer Luis Santiago did. While driving on the Garden State Parkway, Santiago struck and killed 29-year-old Damian Dymka. This is what Officer Santiago (who was off-duty and in his own vehicle) -- with all his training, expertise, and knowledge of applicable laws -- did next:

After striking Dymka, who was a nurse, neither Santiago or his passenger, Albert Guzman, 25, of Newark, called 911 or tried to render aid.“(The suspects) returned to the scene multiple times before Santiago loaded the victim into the Honda and removed him from the scene,” [Essex County Prosecutor Theodore] Stephens said. “Santiago then took the body to his home in Bloomfield where he, his mother and Guzman allegedly discussed what to do with the body.”Eventually, Santiago drove Dymka’s body back to the scene of the crash, Stephens said.
It took another cop to finally end this dark and bleak farce.
Santiago’s father, who is a lieutenant in the Newark Police Department, called 911 and reported that his son was in an accident, Stephens said.
State troopers responded to the scene of at least one crime and came across Officer Santiago and his passenger. They also came across Dymka's dead body, which was lying in the back of Santiago's Honda.More than three weeks after this happened, Officer Santiago is facing a long list [PDF] of criminal charges.
In addition to vehicular homicide, Santiago was charged with leaving the scene of crash resulting in death, endangering an injured victim, desecrating/moving human remains, hindering one's own apprehension, conspiracy to hinder prosecution, tampering with physical evidence, obstructing the administration of law, and two counts of official misconduct.
Santiago's co-conspirator/passenger (Albert Guzman) is facing many of the same charges. The officer's mother -- Annette Santiago -- is facing the same charges as Guzman, given her alleged assistance in attempting to cover up Dymka's killing.It's all very surreal and horrifying. Some drivers might panic when they hit a pedestrian. Very few of them will leave and return to the scene several times before driving the victim's now-dead body out to their parents' house to discuss what to do about it.Maybe it's a law enforcement thing. This incident is somewhat similar to the bizarre actions of South Dakota attorney general Jason Ravnsborg after he struck and killed a pedestrian. While Ravnsborg did call 911 within minutes of the accident, he claimed he had no idea what he had hit. He returned to the accident scene the next day and allegedly "discovered" the body of the man he had struck and killed, 55-year-old Joseph Boever. Investigators found the victim's broken glasses inside Ravnsborg's vehicle, casting doubt on his claim that he didn't know what he had hit until the next day. Investigators also pointed out Boever had been carrying a flashlight, which Ravnsborg denied seeing. The flashlight was near Boever's body and still on when investigators arrived at the scene the following morning.These aren't normal reactions. These are the actions of people who think they have a better chance than most to escape any culpability for their actions. Most people would not compound criminal charges after striking a pedestrian. But Officer Santiago did. And, worse, he was surrounded by enablers unwilling to deter him from turning a pedestrian accident into something far worse than a hit-and-run.But equally as surreal are the statements released by the State Police, who had encountered this bizarre scene and found a driver with a dead body in his car. While it's understandable that public statements wouldn't include any accusations of wrongdoing while an investigation was underway, the State Police withheld any information on the driver, giving residents the impression this was a normal accident involving just some guy... and that it really might be the fault of the person who was killed.
State police say a man from Garfield was killed after being struck by a car while walking on the Garden State Parkway.The accident happened Monday morning near Exit 151.State police is unsure why the pedestrian was walking on the highway.His identification is pending family verification. The driver involved was not injured.
Just the facts. I mean, it's all factual but it leaves out all the interesting facts, like the body in the back of the car, or the driver being a public servant. Three weeks later, the truth is out. And chances are that if this had involved a regular person rather than a cop, a few of the more unusual details (like the body in the car) would have been added to initial press statements.Prosecutors won't have to do much to prove intent. Someone who isn't trying to evade responsibility for striking a pedestrian with their car simply doesn't do the things alleged here. And someone who's a cop should definitely never do these things because they're supposed to be holding themselves to a higher standard, even when they're off-duty. It looks like Officer Santiago rolled the dice on being a cop, possibly assuming that would be enough to allow him to escape accountability. That gamble failed to pay off and now Officer Santiago is going to have to face the consequences of his completely inexplicable actions.

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posted at: 12:00am on 08-Dec-2021
path: /Policy | permalink | edit (requires password)

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