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LEO junk can't really imprison us. First, LEO junk decays - especially if it's in non-circular orbits such as caused by collisions/explosions; Second, space is
by PeterisP 5y ago
LEO junk can't really imprison us. First, LEO junk decays - especially if it's in non-circular orbits such as caused by collisions/explosions; Second, space is large - if LEO is "full" of junk then that means that long-term orbits have a high chance of some collision, preventing us from launching Starlink-like constellations, but launching a rocket through LEO (to e.g. Moon or Mars) would still be reasonable even if it's "full" of junk (i.e. a hundred thousand fragments flying around in undetected orbits) as such amounts of fragments still don't cover that much space, they don't make it impassable, launches would merely become not as safe - if a launch has a 1% chance of exploding because it hits something, that sucks but it does not really imprison us.
- LargoLasskhyfv 5y agoHmm, according to [whee!] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_West_Ford https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_West_Ford Fifty years later, in 2013, some of the dipoles that had not deployed correctly still remained in clumps, contributing a small amount of the orbital debris tracked by NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office. Their numbers have been diminishing over time as they occasionally re-enter. As of March 2020, 36 clumps of needles were still known to be in orbit. I wouldn't want to be hit by that, while being in not much more than an inflated tin can ;)