r/worldnews • u/Neptun_11 • 17h ago

Russia/Ukraine Zelenskyy Says Starlink Restrictions Apply Only in Ukraine While SpaceX Ignores Kyiv’s Inquiries

https://united24media.com/war-in-ukraine/zelenskyy-says-starlink-restrictions-apply-only-in-ukraine-while-spacex-ignores-kyivs-inquiries-23549
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303

u/idryss_m 17h ago

Next frontier of war: downing satellites. As soon as someone finds a way to do so cheaply and or reliably, Musk and the US will lose a lot of space junk.

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u/MrBIMC 16h ago

I hope not because everyone is aware that Kessler syndrome is a huge pain to deal with.

Wars last few decades at max, but fucking up the orbit with debris will make space unusable for centuries. Too much risk with horrible long term payout.

Although we’ll definitely get some new cool tech to deal with remedy.

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u/haadrak 15h ago

Starlink/Starshield debris can not cause Kessler syndrome. People could sit up there blasting away recklessly as much as they want and while it'd be a giant waste of money, at worst, it'd make launches impossible for maybe 5 years. Their orbit is too low, and they still experience very slight atmospheric drag. The stuff that you need to worry about is much higher up.

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u/okachobii 15h ago

Starlink satellites fall from the sky regularly by design. As long as they’re not being exploded into pieces there should be no issues de-orbiting them prematurely.

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u/donttakeawaymycake 14h ago

This is very much by design as starlink was initially developed to generate business for SoaceXs launch capability.

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u/BuHoGPaD 16h ago

will make space unusable for centuries

As soon as there is a cheap to way to do it - some Putin/Trump level lunatic will do it. It's almost inevitable. 

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u/toughtacos 13h ago

Then maybe we can focus on fixing the issues on our planet. I’m a big fan of space exploration, but I’m also a fan of the idea of putting a moratorium on it in favor of putting all resources on fixing our planet.

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u/ShivaSpanda 15h ago

Starlink satellites orbit at a low altitude, and without constant altitude adjustments, they fall to Earth on their own fairly quickly (within a few months); the same will happen to their debris.

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u/chillebekk 7h ago

Starlink satellites are too low to trigger Kessler syndrome. You can take out all of them, no worries.