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Target of European Space Debris Removal Mission Is Itself Hit by Space Debris
(www.bloomberg.com)
this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2023
101 points (98.1% liked)
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NGL, the number of satellites already in orbit is worrying. Even just since prepandemic, I can spot a lot more satellites than I ever could before, because of how rapidly we are adding them to orbit for things like starlink. I really really hope everyone has automatic methods for deorbiting dead satellites within a decade of expiration.
Starlink satellites will eventually de-orbit by themselves. The low-orbit altitude they fly in is not a completely vacuum. If they arenβt reboosted drag will slow them down enough that in about 5 years they come down and burn up in the atmosphere. We should worry more about those satellite in higher altitudes, like those TV broadcasting satellites that are in a geo synchronous orbit. Those will never come down without human intervention, but they are so far away that itβs difficult and expensive to reach them.
starlink alone has more than doubled the number of satellites in space. like, they alone have launched more than everyone else combined until that point. it's ridiculous.
The lowest of Starlink supposedly won't last 5 years in orbit without operating ion thrusters.