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SpaceX, OneWeb, Amazon. I hope this will not turn to be a space debris disaster.
by tzfld 7y ago
SpaceX, OneWeb, Amazon. I hope this will not turn to be a space debris disaster.
- LeonM 7y agoNo, it won't. These satellites are placed close to earth, so they will deorbit after some time. An orbit this close to earth is not sustainable, you need fuel to keep the orbit going. Once the fuel runs out, or the satellite malfunctions, it will fall back into the earth's atmosphere and burn. It's also in the article: > Second, there’s the matter of attrition, as satellites will begin to deorbit after a few years and SpaceX will need to replace them regularly in order to maintain its constellation.
- garmaine 7y agoSpaceX is going to be putting thousands of satellites in the ~750mi orbital range, which takes centuries to decay. So long as they are closely tracked I don't think this is an issue, but these things are not meant to decay on short lifespans.