this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2024
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I was about to comment that those concerns are always exaggerated by people who object to the constellations for other reasons, and that they're in a low enough orbit that it's not a realistic concern due to atmospheric drag, but I checked first and god damnit, they're putting these things at 800km. That's absolutely high enough that they'll be there pretty much forever, unless someone goes out of their way to clean it up
The article says about 10 years, but when you want to get to space, 10 years is a loooonggg time.
I don't see "about 10 years", I see "decades or longer".
10 years would be a miracle, there's effectively no atmosphere above about 600km (which is one reason the other mega constellations have been at or around 500km)
Except what they deliberately deorbit (which they'll probably be trying to do, if only to avoid fouling up their own orbit) they're going to generate debris which is up there for centuries, realistically