It still takes 5 years and with the amount of satellites Musk wants to put into LEO, there’s a lot of chances for dead satellites to get turned into thousands of tiny bullets which will take out even more satellites and it turns into a runaway catastrophe.
The more finely sub-divided a satellite becomes the more rapidly atmospheric drag causes its orbit to decay.
Also, there’s basically only Starlink satellites at the altitude these are being placed in, and nothing in lower altitudes. So a brief burst of orbital debris would only inconvenience Starlink itself.
The Space junk thing is very serious but Starlink is not a problem in that regard.
The are such a low orbit they will de-orbit due to atmospheric drag with no input or de-orbit burn required.
That is what this story is about…
It is all the other sats from MEO to GEO that are the problem.
It still takes 5 years and with the amount of satellites Musk wants to put into LEO, there’s a lot of chances for dead satellites to get turned into thousands of tiny bullets which will take out even more satellites and it turns into a runaway catastrophe.
deleted by creator
The more finely sub-divided a satellite becomes the more rapidly atmospheric drag causes its orbit to decay.
Also, there’s basically only Starlink satellites at the altitude these are being placed in, and nothing in lower altitudes. So a brief burst of orbital debris would only inconvenience Starlink itself.