3 ms·

With stratosphere full of burned deorbited satellites, we might see more colors in future.

• kortilla 3y ago
  The satellites are dwarfed by meteors. They won’t make a difference
  • EnigmaFlare 3y ago
    I was curious about that: 44 tonnes of meteorite per day falls into the atmosphere! [1] There are 8000 satellites in orbit (including dead ones). Seems like most are under 1 tonne. That's 8000 tonnes maximum so if it all comes down in 1 year (somehow), it's less than the mass of meteorites for that year. [1] https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/ https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/
    • rini17 3y ago
      Some spectral lines are much more prominent, some elements/molecules will stay there longer, it can't be compared only by weight. Also, if Starship is successful as planned, means on average several tons launched per day, most of which mass to be deorbited just few years later. Starlink plans to deorbit thousands of satellites per year, V2 are 800kg already, likely getting heavier if launching gets cheaper.
  • lukealization 3y ago
    Satellites are significantly more metal-rich than meteors—also it's clear with Starship and multiple large (10,000+) satellite constellations that the total deorbited mass annually is only going to grow.