4 ms·
They're operating around 500 km, which is not the lowest of orbits. There's stuff below, including people in the orbit.
by exitb 3y ago
They're operating around 500 km, which is not the lowest of orbits. There's stuff below, including people in the orbit.
- doikor 3y agoAs long as the satellites are under 600km or so they will deorbit on their own in under 5 years. So in the worst case scenario caused by Starlink we would not be able to access space for 5 years which while not great is not the end of the world either. The time to deorbit is not linear. So this 500km orbit is fine while 700km orbit would get us ~25 year deorbit time. 800km over 80 years and so on.