4 ms·
I got it from Wikipedia: "The Dawn spacecraft broke the record, with a velocity change of 11.5 km/s (41,000 km/h), though it was only half as efficient, requiri
by ars 5y ago
I got it from Wikipedia: "The Dawn spacecraft broke the record, with a velocity change of 11.5 km/s (41,000 km/h), though it was only half as efficient, requiring 425 kg (937 lb) of xenon."
I rounded up to one ton, since we're only trying to figure out order of magnitude.
- skykooler 5y agoDawn is an interplanetary probe, though, and requires orders of magnitude more fuel than satellite constellations. For a more realistic figure, the Starlink satellites are fueled with about 5 kg of krypton.
- Arainach 5y agoStarlink alone has launched more than 2,000 satellites already and plans a total of at least 12,000. That's a lot of fuel - and that's just one constellation.
- krisoft 5y ago> That's a lot of fuel - and that's just one constellation. Is that a lot of fuel? 5kg times 12000 is about 60 tonne. That's the weight of two big truck approximately. In which sense is that a lot of fuel? And besides krypton is a noble gas, it doesn't react with anything.