@sundogplanets@mastodon.social
2026-03-06 22:13 UTC
@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.
Replies (1)
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@alterelefant@mastodontech.de 2026-03-07 05:32
@sundogplanets Those Starlink satellites are at an altitude of around 450 if I am not mistaken. Therefore they will definitely return from orbit after their service life has ended. Whilst falling down the debris will pollute the upper atmosphere. We just don't know what the effects are of tens of thousands of satellites burning up that high. The smoke it releases could have serious long term conveniences. @Nichol @Olson @julescelt01 @markmetz @river