Kessler Syndrome. The worst part is that, at some point, the risk of collision becomes so great that the problem becomes self-perpetuating, further increasing the risk until we can’t leave Earth anymore.
Kessler Syndrome. The worst part is that, at some point, the risk of collision becomes so great that the problem becomes self-perpetuating, further increasing the risk until we can’t leave Earth anymore.
T156@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
Would it not be self-correcting in the end? The various bits of debris that form the Kessler cloud would collide so much that they would eventually fragment into little more than dust, or lose enough energy that they are no longer in a stable orbit.
ilinamorato@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
There’s no appreciable drag up there, so if it’s in orbit it’s going to be in orbit for a while, regardless of how big or small it is. Is the amount of energy lost to ripping the debris apart enough to eventually de-orbit the object? I honestly don’t know. My immediate thought is no, barring outside factors, because if it did spacecraft would be torn apart during their de-orbit burns; but I honestly can’t get my brain around that well enough to be certain (maybe the longer time a spacecraft takes de-orbiting reduces the stresses that a piece of space junk suffers instantly).
The kind of crazy thing is that, if a 1,000kg satellite orbiting at an altitude of 36km and a speed of 11,000kph breaks into a thousand pieces, each of those 1kg pieces are still traveling at an altitude of 36km and a speed of 11,000kph.