I did a calculation yesterday that made me want to scream. If you look at the *current* density of satellites in 1km altitude bins in Low Earth Orbit, and assume they are travelling at circular velocities (generally true), then Starlink satellites pass within <1km of each other EVERY 30 SECONDS.
At Starlink altitudes, everything is travelling at 7 km/second, so <1 km close approaches are terrifyingly close. Every 30 seconds. WHY.
@sundogplanets why is that terrifying? Even worst case scenario and they all collide with each other being a LEO all that debris will just come down to earth in a few years anyway. But that happening is extremely unlikely.