Otter Raft@lemmy.ca to Space@mander.xyzEnglish · 7 days agoRemoving these 50 objects from orbit would cut danger from space junk in half - Ars Technicaarstechnica.comexternal-linkmessage-square16linkfedilinkarrow-up187arrow-down11cross-posted to: hackernews@lemmy.bestiver.sespaceflight@sh.itjust.works
arrow-up186arrow-down1external-linkRemoving these 50 objects from orbit would cut danger from space junk in half - Ars Technicaarstechnica.comOtter Raft@lemmy.ca to Space@mander.xyzEnglish · 7 days agomessage-square16linkfedilinkcross-posted to: hackernews@lemmy.bestiver.sespaceflight@sh.itjust.works
minus-squareburble@lemmy.dbzer0.comlinkfedilinkarrow-up7·7 days agoLet’s put actual numbers on it: Starlink: 500-570km Kuiper: 630km Guowang: 900-1145 km And as far as passive deorbit times, this chart is for a 1u cubesat, and bigger satellites would come down faster, but it illustrates some of the point that Starlink isn’t actually the problem here:
minus-squaremkwt@lemmy.worldlinkfedilinkarrow-up2·6 days agoThe ballistic coefficient, mass divided by cross section area, still determines how drag effects trajectory in the LEO environment. It should be pretty straightforward to extrapolate if you know the relevant parameters on both spacecraft.
Let’s put actual numbers on it:
Starlink: 500-570km
Kuiper: 630km
Guowang: 900-1145 km
And as far as passive deorbit times, this chart is for a 1u cubesat, and bigger satellites would come down faster, but it illustrates some of the point that Starlink isn’t actually the problem here:
The ballistic coefficient, mass divided by cross section area, still determines how drag effects trajectory in the LEO environment.
It should be pretty straightforward to extrapolate if you know the relevant parameters on both spacecraft.