There are 6400 Starlink satellites in low-Earth orbit right now, and Musk wants to launch more than 10,000 more; there are a half million more proposed by competing companies, like Amazon. Each one weighs about 800kg. Regularly, here’s what happens:
This adds up.
Due to the large number of short-lived satellites, at its peak deployment, Starlink’s mega-constellation will require 29 tons of satellites to enter the upper atmosphere every day. That’s nearly equivalent to a car entering our skies every hour.
A ton an hour is trivial on the scale of an entire planet, but the danger is that it could come crashing down on a plane flying through the debris.
I’m also thinking…that’s a ton of high-end electronics launched at great expense being vaporized every hour. It’s an extravagant, dangerous waste.
Would you rather Musk launched those satellites into orbits that took thousands or millions of years to decay? As it stands, potential Starlink space junk is in short-lived orbits that decay in about five years, which seems like a reasonable response to the Not-In-My-Earth-Orbit protesters worried about a Kessler syndrome.
Kessler syndrome anyone?