4 ms·
For everyone worried about polluting geo distance orbits, consider that geosynchronous is about 35,786 km from the surface, or about 6x the radius of the earth
by alex_young 7y ago
For everyone worried about polluting geo distance orbits, consider that geosynchronous is about 35,786 km from the surface, or about 6x the radius of the earth away.
Suffice to say this is a very great distance, and the probability of a collision orbit at this distance is so phenomenally unlikely that even if left in place there is nothing to consider of this risk.
Moving to a higher and unused orbit means nothing will ever impact it in any human time horizon.
- azinman2 7y agoCan that really be true? You’re still having the thing rotate along. I worry about space filling up with satellites with no good ability to retrieve them..
- mandevil 7y agoSpace is really, really big. When you hear that the Sun has an Asteroid belt, you imagine that it is like Empire Strikes Back. In actuality, the belt works out to 1 extra atom per m^3 of space, because, well, see above about how big space is. That is basically what we're talking about with satellites here- all of our space junk in graveyard orbits is less dense than that, last I checked (which was 4-5 years ago). Low Earth Orbit is a bigger concern; but much of the concern in that region is spent rocket stages which have enough propellant inside them that they eventually explode and then for several months-years we have lots of debris (and then threat of a Kessler Cascade). The international community has responded to this threat by adding regulations on the proper disposal of spent rocket stages. (Occasionally, similar to this satellite, there are failed stages which do explode, but it should not happen often or on a normal path.)