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Comment on SpaceX Might Have Lost 200+ Starlink Satellites In Just 2 Months Shows Data

KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

Okay, so is this actual news, or just reporting on the fact that starlink satellites have a 5 year lifespan by design? Because this reads like the numerous other articles out there that are ignoring the fact that satellites need fuel to stay in low earth orbit, and that fuel eventually runs out.

I dislike musk as much as the next guy, but let’s not pretend this is something it isn’t.

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geosoco@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
I get your point, but I suspect there's more here than just lifespan. I don't think we know the reason but the article says this:

As a comparison, only 248 satellites had burned up at the start of this year, so the number destroyed during the last two months is higher than the figure for the first seven months of the year.

If 200 over the span of 2 months is "normal" then I have questions about the financial viability of the project.

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- KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  It kinda depends on what we are considering a starlink satellite. They did launch a batch of satellites that experienced some issues, and some of them did come down. Iirc those were new models that were going up for the first time.
  
  That said, I wouldn’t be too concerned about it. Firstly because we are talking about less than a percentage point of the total, and second because once the bugs are ironed out, a different company that isn’t run by a moron will likely step in to do a better job.
  
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  - serratur@lemmy.wtf ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    
    Firstly because we are talking about less than a percentage point of the total
    
    (200 / 5000) * 100 = 4%
    
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    KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Ah, fair enough. Not sure why I thought there were more in total. In fact I think there may be less than 5k.
    
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KSPAtlas@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Yeah, if you want to avoid that, you need to go way up into more expensive and less effective orbits

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Etienne_Dahu@jlai.lu ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
By the way, what happens to these satellites once they reach their planned lifespan and run out of fuel?

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- Haquer@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  There is sufficient drag in Low Earth Orbit for the crafts to deorbit without station keeping, meaning they burn up in the atmosphere within a few months/years depending on atmospheric conditions.
  
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  - Etienne_Dahu@jlai.lu ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Thank you for the explanation!
    
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