5 ms·

More junk, and no responsibilities of the companies whatsoever. The cleanup (or kessler syndrome-related catastrophe) will be payed with taxpayer money: https:/

• okl 6y ago
  That's a very cool visualization. When you zoom in you can even see small 3D models that represent the type of debris.
• shantara 6y ago
  Starlink satellites are flying in low Earth orbit with the natural decay and reentry time no more than 5 years. I see this same argument repeated in every Starlink discussion thread.
  • okl 6y ago
    Junk is junk, even if it's "just" 5 years.
    • nickik 6y ago
      Its not 'junk'. The sats are all under control, do active avoidance of SpaceX works with other sat providers (ESA, NASA and so on) to avoid crashes. Each sat is designed at end of live to have enough fuel on board to deorbit itself safely. The 5 year self drop is only relevant in case a sat a has a failure. In such a case it is in a known orbit and can be avoided. The US and soon Europe are actively tracking object and multiple companies are working on it. Europe is also working on a laser to measure with high accurate move dead objects. The first garbage truck missions are already planned for dead objects. Space junk is a problem and need to be taken seriously. But people need to seriously stop with the panic and bringing up Kessler syndrome in every single discussion as some sort of thread for global civilisation that is imminent.