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Should anybody be putting satellites up without some credible plan for decommissioning them from the atmosphere?
by ianai 7y ago
Should anybody be putting satellites up without some credible plan for decommissioning them from the atmosphere?
- gamegoblin 7y agoIf this is anything like SpaceX's constellation, the plan is that the orbits will naturally decay in < 10 years and they will burn up in the atmosphere upon re-entry.
- HillaryBriss 7y agoIMHO, it would be nice if the decay orbit for each satellite were tracked accurately by Amazon and published beforehand. If these satellites truly do burn up completely -- great. But if they don't it would be great to hold Amazon accountable for any problems and for waste cleanup.
- WrtCdEvrydy 7y ago> accountable for any problems and for waste cleanup These are companies, not people... $10 buck says if one of these things hits your roof, Amazon will just give you a $100 gift card to Amazon.com
- HillaryBriss 7y ago+1 lol. yeah. I guess that's better than nothing.
- jacquesm 7y agoDecommissioning plans are part and parcel of any satellite launch. These small ones will deorbit pretty rapidly if they are told to do so and a bit slower if it happens uncommanded once they are unable to maintain altitude.
- tyldum 7y agoNo FCC license unless you do, so yeah - it's accounted for. Unless they want to operate entirely without US downlinks. I do ground stations for a living.
- ianai 7y agoDoes that mitigate the chances of debris significantly impacting future launches?