Comment on Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites are falling to Earth at an alarming rate
Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 month ago
IIRC this was by design. They’ve got a fairly short lifespan (only a couple years i think?) before they fall.
Comment on Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites are falling to Earth at an alarming rate
Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 month ago
IIRC this was by design. They’ve got a fairly short lifespan (only a couple years i think?) before they fall.
kayzeekayzee@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 month ago
Why though? Isn’t that super wasteful?
Samskara@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
The low orbit means they have more drag from the atmosphere. So to stay in orbit, the satellites need to spend fuel. That fuel runs out after a couple of years.
RheumatoidArthritis@mander.xyz 1 month ago
It is, of course.
I think it’s because of their low orbit and both the lower power required to talk to the satellite from earth, and smaller distances between satellites for meshing. It’s just my guess though.