4 ms·
- "Earth's L2 Lagrange point, which is a valuable and limited area of space" That's a strong exaggeration; it's millions of km across in three dimensions. Gaia
by perihelions 2y ago
- "Earth's L2 Lagrange point, which is a valuable and limited area of space"
That's a strong exaggeration; it's millions of km across in three dimensions. Gaia's orbit alone is
- "263 000 x 707 000 x 370 000 km, 180 day-long orbit around L2"
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Gaia/Gaia_enters_its_operational_orbit https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Gaia/G...
- echoangle 2y agoL2 is also said to be unstable, but I don't know how long it would take for Gaia to move far away enough that the collision risk would be negligible.
- perihelions 2y agoThe issue with that is things that naturally escape from Lagrange points often crash into the Earth, which is one of the risks they're trying to mitigate.
- happyopossum 2y agoIf by “crash into earth” you mean “burn up harmlessly in the upper atmosphere” then ok - but it kinda sounds like that’s not what you’re claiming…
- perihelions 2y agoPieces of spacecraft often survive atmospheric reentry.