Gregory's Server@sundogplanets I am naive about spacecraft. Do these satellites have a way to be brought safely back to earth, or are they stuck in space until they break apart and fall to earth?
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@volcano @sundogplanets they have thrusters to avoid other satellites and debris, and they carry enough propellant to deorbit at end of life and burn up safely in the atmosphere @volcano @sundogplanets it's not foolproof, if something smaller than we can see smacks it just right and we lose communication, or the thrusters are damaged, it may get stuck in orbit indefinitely. But that hasn't happened yet despite an absurd number of these already in orbit for years. Several hundred have already reached end of life and deorbited successfully, too  @modulusshift @volcano @sundogplanets The Moties would be appalled. "You are really going to miss that metal later..." For the most part YES. Most of these satellites have ion thrusters which should allow them to be deorbited on command. The orbit these are on will also naturally decay after 5yrs if the satellites stop occasionally boosting their orbits. This is all a bit uncharted air control problem the so it's probably a bit dangerous to bring a lot down at once. @nullagent @volcano @sundogplanets Yes, they will mostly burn up in the upper atmosphere and are unlikely to kill people via direct impact. However, these large numbers of satellites will deplete the ozone layer and kill and blind people via increased rates of cancer and cataracts. The chances of SpaceX/Elon Musk caring are ... I dunno ... close to zero. Even if government regulation demands that they do something about it, I expect they will simply defy the law. |
@volcano @sundogplanets since every idiot with too much money wants to put a ridicioulus amount of satelites in orbit i think the Situation is only getting worse.