4 ms·

Altitude Lifetime 200 km 1 day 300 km 1 month 400 km 1 year 500 km 10 years 700 km 100 years 900 km 1000 years

by nabla9 6y ago

tim333 6y ago
Ha - and the altitude of the space station is 408 km so most of the junk should clear out in a year? That sounds too easy.
- pilom 6y ago
  The space station has to add energy almost weekly to overcome drag. If it didn't it would likely come down within a couple years. When they want to throw trash away, they literally just drop it off the side and it burns up eventually: https://gizmodo.com/iss-ditches-2-9-ton-pallet-of-batteries-creating-its-m-1846476992 https://gizmodo.com/iss-ditches-2-9-ton-pallet-of-batteries-...
  - spookthesunset 6y ago
    Would that stuff cause a huge fireball in the night sky? 2.9 tons is a hell of a lot of mass... amazing to think it will just burn up in the atmosphere.
    - aledalgrande 6y ago
      I don't think it is to worry about, 1 cubic meter of iron weighs 7.8 tons for example... it is not a huge mass in the end.
    - KiwiJohnno 6y ago
      I'd say it would burn up pretty nicely. Its not gonna be one homogenous lump of stuff that holds together on re-entry, its a bunch of smaller "things" (battery cells) bundled up and held together with an external shell. As soon as that shell burns through its going to break apart and each individual part will start burning up.
      - tim333 6y ago
        Yeah probably most of the mass is aluminium sheet which melts quite easily hence Starship and the MiG-25 switching to steel, and also can burn quite well - it was the fuel in the shuttle's boosters.
- SonicScrub 6y ago
  Because it is really that easy. Space-junk in low-earth orbit is not really a concern, and alarmist articles about space-junk in connection with projects like Starlink are just click-bait that rely on the general public's ignorance of orbital mechanics and space. Medium and high orbits are a different story. Space junk is absolutely a real concern here.

Altitude Lifetime 200 km 1 day 300 km 1 month 400 km 1 year 500 km 10 years 700 km 100 years 900 km 1000 years

by nabla9 6y ago

Altitude Lifetime 200 km 1 day 300 km 1 month 400 km 1 year 500 km 10 years 700 km 100 years 900 km 1000 years

Ha - and the altitude of the space station is 408 km so most of the junk should clear out in a year? That sounds too easy.

pilom 6y ago
The space station has to add energy almost weekly to overcome drag. If it didn't it would likely come down within a couple years. When they want to throw trash away, they literally just drop it off the side and it burns up eventually: https://gizmodo.com/iss-ditches-2-9-ton-pallet-of-batteries-creating-its-m-1846476992 https://gizmodo.com/iss-ditches-2-9-ton-pallet-of-batteries-...
- spookthesunset 6y ago
  Would that stuff cause a huge fireball in the night sky? 2.9 tons is a hell of a lot of mass... amazing to think it will just burn up in the atmosphere.
  - aledalgrande 6y ago
    I don't think it is to worry about, 1 cubic meter of iron weighs 7.8 tons for example... it is not a huge mass in the end.
  - KiwiJohnno 6y ago
    I'd say it would burn up pretty nicely. Its not gonna be one homogenous lump of stuff that holds together on re-entry, its a bunch of smaller "things" (battery cells) bundled up and held together with an external shell. As soon as that shell burns through its going to break apart and each individual part will start burning up.
    - tim333 6y ago
      Yeah probably most of the mass is aluminium sheet which melts quite easily hence Starship and the MiG-25 switching to steel, and also can burn quite well - it was the fuel in the shuttle's boosters.
SonicScrub 6y ago
Because it is really that easy. Space-junk in low-earth orbit is not really a concern, and alarmist articles about space-junk in connection with projects like Starlink are just click-bait that rely on the general public's ignorance of orbital mechanics and space. Medium and high orbits are a different story. Space junk is absolutely a real concern here.