THE Federal Aviation Administration has spoken out on the dangers of Starlink satellites potentially injuring humans on Earth. By 2035, debris from low-earth orbit (LEO) objects, like Starlink sate…
Prediction is at least 1 person killed every 2 years
At the risk of being the well-aktually guy, Starlink satellites (along with all other similar recent-design LEO commsats launched from the US) are required by the FCC to be designed in such a way that they burn up completely on re-entry. This claim by the FAA is based on a decades-old study involving the Iridium satellite family, which use an older-type satellite bus design that was not designed to cleanly burn up on re-entry. The Iridium satellites are also much bigger and heavier than Starlink satellites.
You’re absolutely correct. But also consider the capability for Elon Musk to fuck it up by trying to solve the problem in a “disruptive” way. “Oh we reduced launch weight by building the bus out of high temperature carbon composite.”
At the risk of being the well-aktually guy, Starlink satellites (along with all other similar recent-design LEO commsats launched from the US) are required by the FCC to be designed in such a way that they burn up completely on re-entry. This claim by the FAA is based on a decades-old study involving the Iridium satellite family, which use an older-type satellite bus design that was not designed to cleanly burn up on re-entry. The Iridium satellites are also much bigger and heavier than Starlink satellites.
You’re absolutely correct. But also consider the capability for Elon Musk to fuck it up by trying to solve the problem in a “disruptive” way. “Oh we reduced launch weight by building the bus out of high temperature carbon composite.”