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I am not an expert in this field but Starlink satellites are tiny 260kg. An asteroid that would pose a thread to earth would not be affected even if every Star
by LinuxBender 2y ago
I am not an expert in this field but Starlink satellites are tiny 260kg. An asteroid that would pose a thread to earth would not be affected even if every Starlink satellite were to manage somehow get in it's path. Their 28,000 kilometers per hour orbital velocity vs an asteroids 17 to 25 kilometers per second impact vector and the 260kg mass of a little satellite vs many millions of tons asteroid combined with their low earth orbit means not enough time to change an asteroids trajectory even if they had significant mass.
- punnerud 2y agoIsn’t the speed of the asteroid most important? “Asteroids are the most common type of impactor on earth, and they crash into the planet at an estimated velocity of 18 km/s”
- LinuxBender 2y agoI think all of the factors speed, mass and trajectory of all objects involved draw the analogy of the tiniest mote of dust attempting to alter the speed and trajectory of a fully loaded tractor trailer in a competition to move beer coast to coast in record time.