Video from Jan 1, 2026, that popped in my feed and I completely missed.

[YouTube AI summary] Anton Petrov examines a study highlighting how high-density satellite networks create a fragile 'house of cards' in low Earth orbit. The analysis focuses on the rapid increase in collision risks due to limited maneuvering time and the potential impact of extreme space weather.

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[–] 8 points 5 months ago* (1 child)

Might not be a bad thing if we can't breach low earth orbit for a few decades. Spoil some billionaire bugout plans and give us a chance to get our shit together before the race to mine everything kicks off.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago

    Another Torment Nexus to add to our collection. Neat!

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (5 children)

    If you wanted to launch a sattelite that would trigger Kessler Syndrome, how would you design it, what orbit would it take and where would you activate it?

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (4 children)

    Not sure about the altitude, but you’d probably want something that explodes into a bunch of shrapnel around other objects. I think the idea would be that the shrapnel starts to take its own orbit, smashing into its own things, destroying and creating even more shrapnel. Like a chain reaction.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (3 children)

    Maybe a burst that maintains shrapnel in as high an orbit as possible that will decay slowly, maximizing the opportunity for collisions?

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (2 children)

    Yeah. It would need to be brittle so that it fragments, probably something that releases a lot of energy on impact. Maybe a quartz structure, if it could survive the temperatures?

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago

    If it explodes as an orb, you'll lose most of your material to space or the atmosphere. Probably want a shrapnel cone in line with the orbit, maybe angled a little spaceward so more material gets into higher orbit to eventually decay.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago

    I think I Barliman Butterburred it: Start off at as low a trajectory as possible, and shoot the cone upward so the bulk of it reaches high orbit and starts to decay. That'll cross the most pathse. Bonus: Find out what the prevalent direction of sattelites is and try to go opposite to maximize delta v and passes-per-orbit.

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  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago

    Can you imagine a datacenter in space.... edong is a k hole crack head. He is such a dum dum

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  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago

    I got it.... space vacums... you are welcome. Saved the world.

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  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago

    edong and his low orbitz... its raining trash

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  • 6 comments in c/spaceflight@sh.itjust.works view that post
    [–] 16 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    It's not exactly the wrong place to post something about Kessler syndrome, but it's obnoxious to post a video link instead of explaining the idea and/or linking to a written source.

    Looking up Kessler syndrome online, the "2 days away" thing seems to mean that satellites have maneuvering thrusters to avoid collisions with each other. If a big enough solar flare knocked out all the collision avoidance stuff in the satellites, then within 2 days (3 days is what the other source said) there could potentially be enough collisions to trigger the syndrome.

    Anyway people launching stuff are now at least aware of the issue and taking some kinds of precautions, maybe not enough.

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago (1 child)
  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago*

    Hello wonderful fedditor!

    Try posting this in science, too.

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  • 2 comments in c/space@mander.xyz view that post
    [–] 5 points 10 months ago

    Topical:

    https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-moves-thousands-starlink-satellites-orbit-near-miss-2026-1

    So, between the slightly exploded Starlink and the near miss with a Chinese satellite that dove into the deep end without looking... They must actually be scared if they're lowering the orbits of 4400 satellites.

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago

    It's weird that I haven't seen this yet since I'm subbed on YT. It seems YT would rather shove AI slop in my face than show me things I'd actually like to watch.

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