I missed reading Starlink's latest conjunction report when it came out a bit over a month ago. I just skimmed through it and I think I need to go lay down for a while. It's terrifying how close we are to major collisions in orbit all the time... (I especially love the note about how space-track.org being offline briefly caused them to miss a potential collision... SO FRAGILE AAUGH)
Article summarizing the report here: https://ca.pcmag.com/networking/16653/260-starlink-satellites-burn-up-in-earths-atmosphere-as-more-head-for-fiery-ends
Full report here: https://www.scribd.com/document/1057502572/SpaceX-Gen1-Gen2-Semi-Annual-Report-7-1-26
Oh gosh I just did the math on the maneuver rate, which I couldn't bring myself to do earlier. More than 207,000 collision avoidance maneuvers in 6 months.
That means that somewhere in the Starlink megaconstellation, a satellite is performing a collision avoidance maneuver EVERY 1.25 MINUTES (EVERY 75 SECONDS)
AAAHHHH I'M SURE THAT'S FINE.
And now I find myself reading about asteroid collisional cascades. For no particular reason...
Correct me if I'm wrong but, collision avoidance manoeuvres cost propellant. A satellite can only carry a small amount of propellant. More manoeuvres cost more propellant. Nobody is refuelling satellites in orbit.
I'm sure it will be fine.
@davidtheeviloverlord @sundogplanets They are in so low orbits they de-orbit themselves if they ran out of fuel, or for some other reason couldn't safe themselves
@falken @davidtheeviloverlord @sundogplanets In 1 to 5 years they will self-deorbit. Causing a collision cascade for 1 to 5 years essentially would shut off access to space for 1 to 5 years. That... would not be fun.
They're also supposed to be de-orbited if they are running out of maneuvering fuel, using the last of that fuel. That's great in theory until it doesn't work.
They will not de-orbit.
They will fall.
May be on your house.
@tanavit @davidtheeviloverlord @sundogplanets all orbits are falling aren't they ? Lol
@falken @tanavit @sundogplanets
I looked this up for a novel I wrote. If I understood it correctly, all orbits are falling, but:
If you are falling fast enough, you fall past the horizon, and stay in orbit.
If you slow down, you're still falling, but now you're not going fast enough to fall past the horizon, you're falling towards the Earth.
Right.
And if you fall even more quicky, you leave the Earth orbit.
@tanavit @falken @sundogplanets
I didn't get that far. Our Heroes were trying to stop an orbiting spacecraft from slowing down enough to fall.
But they will have to find the exact impulse !!.
In fact there is an intermediate situation : depending on the impulse and timing, you can modify the orbit from a circle
to a bigger or smaller ellipse.
@falken @sundogplanets
🎶 Starlinks keep falling on my head,
But that doesn't mean that I will soon be turning dead🎶