3 ms·
> a high-speed collision at a very low orbit can trow debris to not-so-low orbit How so? According to my understanding of orbital mechanics, if an object begin
by hypertele-Xii 6y ago
> a high-speed collision at a very low orbit can trow debris to not-so-low orbit
How so? According to my understanding of orbital mechanics, if an object begins its orbit at a certain altitude, it will return to that altitude exactly one orbit later. While a collision can change the shape of the object's orbit, it can't change the spot of collision - which it will return to every cycle of its orbit.
- simonh 6y agoSome of the debris will be thrown into eccentric orbits reaching significantly higher altitudes as part of the orbit. If these fragments hit objects in these higher orbits, that will create further debris clouds in more stable high orbits, etc, etc. That way you can get a runaway chain reaction that could escalate to arbitrarily high orbits and debris cloud lifetimes.