5 ms·

Just out of curiosity, how do satellite launchers account for space debris[0]? 0.https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Debris-GEO1280.jpg https:/

by noobie 10y ago

Just out of curiosity, how do satellite launchers account for space debris[0]? 0.https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Debris-GEO1280.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Debris-G...

danielvf 10y ago
"Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is..." A lot of it comes down to things just being far apart. We're used to the surface of the earth - a 2D surface, but space is 3D. There's orders of several orders of magnitude more room and not a lot of objects in it. Secondly, the orbits of these objects are tracked and in a database. It's a pretty easy task to check if your planned launch path comes near anything.
- madaxe_again 10y ago
  Space is big, low earth orbit isn't - it's easy to end up with a runaway debris cloud that completely blocks access to space. Space will still be really, really big, but short of Jeltz showing up, kessler syndrome will close our access to space.
  - danielvf 10y ago
    Kessler is overhyped. The lower half of low earth orbit isn't a problem because everything there falls to earth in a year or two unless it is actively keeps itself in orbit. Outside of LEO, there's massively more room, and massively less stuff. So the only area we need to consider is "high" LEO. As a thought expiriment, consider the worst case - a hyper intelligent, pan dimensional being disassembles all spacecraft in high LEO. let's assume that's 1,000 US tons worth. ( I have no idea.) if these spacecraft pieces were spread into a sphere the size of the earth, that would be 1/40 billionth of a cm thick. Since a sphere doesn't orbit, let's turn it into lethal 1cm cubes, all magically evenly distributed, orbiting at the same altitude, magically not colliding. That's one death cube every 4 square Km. What are the odd of flying a rocket through that layer? Pretty good actually. The layer is only certain death if you stay in it. We'd still have access to the solar system, geosynchronous orbit, and mid/low LEO even in the alien intelligence worst case Kessler syndrome. ( I have only worked this out on the back of a napkin. Corrections to math appreciated)

by noobie 10y ago

danielvf 10y ago

"Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is..." A lot of it comes down to things just being far apart. We're used to the surface of the earth - a 2D surface, but space is 3D. There's orders of several orders of magnitude more room and not a lot of objects in it. Secondly, the orbits of these objects are tracked and in a database. It's a pretty easy task to check if your planned launch path comes near anything.

madaxe_again 10y ago
Space is big, low earth orbit isn't - it's easy to end up with a runaway debris cloud that completely blocks access to space. Space will still be really, really big, but short of Jeltz showing up, kessler syndrome will close our access to space.
- danielvf 10y ago
  Kessler is overhyped. The lower half of low earth orbit isn't a problem because everything there falls to earth in a year or two unless it is actively keeps itself in orbit. Outside of LEO, there's massively more room, and massively less stuff. So the only area we need to consider is "high" LEO. As a thought expiriment, consider the worst case - a hyper intelligent, pan dimensional being disassembles all spacecraft in high LEO. let's assume that's 1,000 US tons worth. ( I have no idea.) if these spacecraft pieces were spread into a sphere the size of the earth, that would be 1/40 billionth of a cm thick. Since a sphere doesn't orbit, let's turn it into lethal 1cm cubes, all magically evenly distributed, orbiting at the same altitude, magically not colliding. That's one death cube every 4 square Km. What are the odd of flying a rocket through that layer? Pretty good actually. The layer is only certain death if you stay in it. We'd still have access to the solar system, geosynchronous orbit, and mid/low LEO even in the alien intelligence worst case Kessler syndrome. ( I have only worked this out on the back of a napkin. Corrections to math appreciated)