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A million new SpaceX satellites will destroy the night sky — for everyone on Earth (news.ubc.ca)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 1 point 7 months ago (4 children)

They'd last as debris for about 5 years before falling. Atmospheric drag among other things causes orbital decay that cause them to eventually fall to earth without adjustments.

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  • [–] -1 points 7 months ago (3 children)

    The unfortunate thing about debris falling from space is that it could hit you or me and we could get killed.

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  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    They're too small and fast for that. They burn up in the atmosphere.

    Larger space debris on a different trajectory can, but not LEO communication satellites.

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  • [–] 0 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    Well there's still chances it wouldn't burn fast enough...

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago

    You're not wrong. They're designed to burn up completely but there have already been failures and documented cases of 2.5kg pieces hitting the ground. The FAA predicts at current trajectories we're looking at about 1 person hit every 2 years by stray debris. And it's only going to get worse the more they launch.

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