2 ms·
No need to calculate odds, we have data. There have been hundreds of collision and explosion events creating debris in orbit. Many if not most of them have been
by modeless 2y ago
No need to calculate odds, we have data. There have been hundreds of collision and explosion events creating debris in orbit. Many if not most of them have been unintentional accidents. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_space_debris_producing_events https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_space_debris_producing...
- bongodongobob 2y agoIn that list there's 1 intentional collision and 1 accidental.
- modeless 2y agoIt's far from a comprehensive list. Many of the causes are listed as "unknown" as well. This page lists 9 unintentional collision events: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_collision https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_collision and it's clearly not comprehensive either since it doesn't contain some from the other list. And collisions are not the only kind of accident creating debris clouds. The page cites 250 debris creation events as of 2015, there have been more since, and most of them were not intentional. Ultimately it doesn't matter what specific kind of unintentional accident created debris. All that matters is how long it will pollute orbit.
- marcosdumay 2y agoThose are events that created debris, not events caused by debris.
- modeless 2y agoThat's right, illustrating my point that accidents creating debris are common and not realistically completely avoidable. Which is why we need to avoid putting satellites in orbits where any created debris will inevitably pollute space for millennia.
- TheDudeMan 2y agoFrustrating that the charts do not show the elevation. I bet they are all LEO.