3 ms·
That makes the very big assumption that the density of other things to hit doesn’t massively increase.
by bgun 6y ago
That makes the very big assumption that the density of other things to hit doesn’t massively increase.
- charlesju 6y agoThat makes a big assumption we can't remove the junk before the density is high enough
- btilly 6y agoIt is worthy of note that SpaceX is pitching Starship for active debris removal in space. It is worthy of note from https://spacenews.com/upper-stages-top-list-of-most-dangerous-space-debris/ https://spacenews.com/upper-stages-top-list-of-most-dangerou... that in a list of the 50 most concerning objects in orbit, 78% are rocket bodies, and 80% were launched before 2000 when various mitigation strategies for space junk began to be improved. There is therefore a Pareto principle at work here. We are tracking over 25,000 objects, but only a few of them contribute most of the risk, and we aren't adding as much to the risk as the number of launches would make you think.