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Why is that? Is the ISS in such a low orbit that any junk in the same orbit will slow down from the drag and de-orbit itself?
by efxhoy 5y ago
Why is that? Is the ISS in such a low orbit that any junk in the same orbit will slow down from the drag and de-orbit itself?
- Dylan16807 5y agoYes. Not instantly but on average it's not a particularly long wait. Even just dipping down there in a non-circular orbit causes a lot of drag.
- GekkePrutser 5y agoTrue, but remember that the orbits above LEO are also full of junk that will eventually be coming down through LEO before deorbiting. So despite the short lifetime of debris there it'll still be a long-term problem in this orbit as there'll be new junk even if we would stop orbiting stuff. There'll be crap coming down for thousands of years, including some nasty cold war relics like nuclear reactor cores.
- shkkmo 5y agoThe greatest concentration of space junk is around 500 miles and will take decades to decay down to 250 miles where the ISS or orbits.
- GekkePrutser 5y agoIndeed, but this is what makes it a long-term problem :)