> what's your risk tolerance? That's the key question the whole matter hangs on, but there's no objective answer for it. Neil Armstrong privately estimated hi

> what's your risk tolerance? That's the key question the whole matter hangs on, but there's no objective answer for it. Neil Armstrong privately estimated his chance for successfully returning to earth at 90%. That's alarmingly low! That's barely safer than Russian roulette. Determining how much risk can be tolerated means figuring out how badly you want the thing. The more you want something, the more risk you can tolerate. Satellites are extremely important to our society, so governments would continue launching the satellites they value most, even if the expected lifespan of the satellite due to space debris was very short. Of course, superfluous and casual use of space would grind to a halt. One of many casualties of war.