14 ms·
When you've got that many, you've got to expect to lose more than a few. Right?
by xhkkffbf 3y ago
When you've got that many, you've got to expect to lose more than a few. Right?
- wongarsu 3y agoYes, but when it fails for whatever reason you want it to stay in one piece and just naturally deorbit within ~5 years due to drag. A collision is likely to create more fragments, that in turn have a chance of hitting your other satellites, which would create even more fragments. You don't want that to happen too frequently. There's enough atmosphere in those low orbits that chain reactions aren't a huge concern for the rest of human spaceflight, but they are a concern for keeping the Starlink constellation alive.