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Orbital inclination is the big one. A polar orbit intersecting an equatorial orbit would have a very high relative velocity. On the other hand two orbits in th
by HPsquared 3y ago
Orbital inclination is the big one. A polar orbit intersecting an equatorial orbit would have a very high relative velocity.
On the other hand two orbits in the same inclination, with one being slightly eccentric, their relative velocity is much lower.
- bagels 3y agoTwo objects at the same inclination can still have very high relative velocity if on different planes.
- HPsquared 3y agoAh, so like the "phase" of the inclination? orbital plane being a vector quantity (angle between the Earth's rotational axis and the normal vector of the satellite's orbital plane)
- bagels 3y agoYes. Find a visualization of starlink orbital shells. They are all in one of just a couple inclinations, lots of crossings
- wkat4242 3y agoIt doesn't matter though. Even if they hit at 0.01% of their orbital velocities, that's still 100km/hr. So it's like a full highway speed car crash. No way two sats colliding will survive that. And remember the collision speed can range from 0 to 200% of their ground velocities. Getting that close to zero is extremely unlikely.