3 ms·
A great idea, but I wonder what Elon Musk's ideas about addressing the possibility of the Kessler syndrome; collisions between orbiting debris at an exponential
by jimmcslim 12y ago
A great idea, but I wonder what Elon Musk's ideas about addressing the possibility of the Kessler syndrome; collisions between orbiting debris at an exponential pace ultimately leading to the denial of safe orbits to humanity.
Given SpaceX this is clearly something he should be deeply concerned about, but is he addressing it in any way, or just adding to the problem?
I'd say he is having a positive impact with his focus on reusable rocket stages, therefore less debris in orbit... a cloud of micro-satellites (how manueverable?) might be going in the other direction.
- imanaccount247 12y agoI'm under the impression that they are not in a stable orbit, so they won't become a problem.
- vishbar 12y agoThis may be a silly question, but when it's said that these are not in a "stable orbit", what is the mechanism of decay? I'd imagine if they were in an elliptical orbit, they'd simply continue that way forever in a "perfect" system. I'd imagine tidal forces would be too weak and the satellites too small for them to have any effect. Are they passing through the atmosphere and experiencing atmospheric drag?
- aba_sababa 12y agoYep. Solar wind also contributes. It's possible to set the solar panels to be orthogonal to these forces which can induce maximum drag.
- danielweber 12y agoEven the moon has enough gravitational distortions that satellites there degrade and crash.