Here's the actual correct math: --- Area of sphere: 4πr^2 Airplane cruising height: ~10km Satellite orbit height: ~550km Radius of earth: 6371km thus, rel

Here's the actual correct math: --- Area of sphere: 4πr^2 Airplane cruising height: ~10km Satellite orbit height: ~550km Radius of earth: 6371km thus, relative increase: (6371+550)/(6371+10) = 1.084 = 8.4% increase Squared (because of first formula) that corresponds with a 1.084^2 = 1.175 = 17.5% increase in area. --- Still, a few caveats: 1. Earth is huge. 510.1 million km² is a lot of space (+20% at 550km altitude). We could have a million sats with each having more than 1km^2 to themselves. 2. Satellites orbit at different heights. Amazon's and SpaceX's satellites will not be on the same orbit. 3. Starlink satellites are at a sufficiently low altitude that Kessler Syndrom is not a problem; even if they all simultaneously turned into millions of pieces of dead debris at the same time, the atmospheric drag would make them lower their orbits and burn up in just a few months.