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Will this high number of low-altitude satellites cause a tracking and collision nightmare for the world's space agencies? Sorry, I recently finished "Seveneves"
by nthdesign 10y ago
Will this high number of low-altitude satellites cause a tracking and collision nightmare for the world's space agencies? Sorry, I recently finished "Seveneves" and I have space debris anxiety right now.
- duskwuff 10y agoDead satellites and debris in low altitude orbits will experience orbital decay and burn up in the atmosphere within a few years. High-altitude objects (e.g, at GEO) are more of a concern.
- flukus 10y agoUnless some debris from that gets pushed into higher orbits, then collides with something else and the process repeats.
- Symmetry 10y agoIn GEO everything is going in the same direction at the same speed so there's really no danger of collision. It's all the satellites whizzing over Earth's pole in different directions that have resulted on the only accidental collision.
- LeifCarrotson 10y agoOnly if poorly managed. It's 4000 objects in an area greater than the surface of the Earth - so still very sparse. And they're low enough to deorbit from drag in 7 years, so if something did get lost or blow up, it would fix itself naturally.