4 ms·
We seem to be throwing greater and greater quantities of frivolous shit into LEO. Are people in the industry not worried about Kessler syndrome?
by everyone 6y ago
We seem to be throwing greater and greater quantities of frivolous shit into LEO. Are people in the industry not worried about Kessler syndrome?
- stevenhuang 6y agoAt our current launch rate, by 2210 we'll be at around ~22000 effective number of objects in LEO and see ~20-50 "catastrophic collisions" per year. We're not at that point yet so concern is not as great (but we're working on it). https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/9967/how-long-before-were-stuck-on-earth-due-to-space-debris-kessler-syndrome#10003 https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/9967/how-l...
- nickik 6y agoThe discipline in terms of orbit cleanup is actually far better. All sats need to have a de-orbit plan. We are also getting far better at monitoring both systematic and individual high accuracy measure. Both US and ESA are improving that technology. Commercial startups are also starting to work on it. ESA is already setting up technology to move objects from the ground with a laser. This is needed for moving dead objects. The first garbage truck mission is already financed by ESA. With Starship coming, garbage truck services will be pretty affordable and in 10-20 years removing your own dead sats will very likely be a requirement as well. Its a problem that needs to be worked on, but I am a bit sick of the endless doom and gloom and everytime anybody does anything in space everybody talks about Kessler syndrome.