Hi Grant, yes there’s an awful lot of ‘junk’ up there, thankfully it doesn’t seem to cause much of a problem, but add another 50,000 satellites and who knows. They are relatively small though, so the impact may be minimal especially if 1130 is a success and the albedo of future satellites is reduced. It will be interesting to see what the results of the trial are.
Wouldn’t mind some time on the INT myself never mind anything larger, alas the impact of work and time precludes any such venture for the time being, so I’m stuck in the ‘back yard’ for now or at least when sky and time permits.