2026-03-06 21:21 UTC
@Nichol
The fact that the mess in Lower Earth Orbit will clean itself up does however result in a lot of pollution in the upper atmosphere. We do not know enough about the long term effects this has on our atmosphere. Therefore my point of view is to not launch so many things into LEO.
@Olson @julescelt01 @markmetz @sundogplanets @river
Replies (1)
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@sundogplanets@mastodon.social 2026-03-06 22:13
@alterelefant @Nichol @Olson @julescelt01 @markmetz @river The timescale for stuff to fall into the atmosphere depends strongly on altitude (but also on shape/mass of the debris). 350 km days-weeks, 550km years-decades, 800 km decades-centuries. Also I hate saying "cleaned up" when it's actually just burning up in the atmosphere and adding to serious atmospheric pollution problems.