this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2024
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Huge SpaceX rocket explosion shredded the upper atmosphere (www.nature.com)
submitted 3 months ago by vegeta to c/technology
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[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

These effects may be troublesome, but they are short-lived; re-ionization occurs as soon as the sun comes up again.

The problem is when you've got enough short lived microsatellites and Starlink-like constellations and whatnot that you've practically got a whole Kessler's syndrome of the damn things constantly burning up in whatever's left of the ionosphere...

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

This is about rocket launches, not satellites.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

This article seems to put the blame on the shockwave from Starship's rapid unscheduled disassembly in the upper atmosphere (not its launch) but there's also been recent warnings about the effects of metal particulates from such explosions, satellites burning in the atmosphere, and similar pollution on the ionosphere.

All in all, burning or blowing up metallic crap in the upper atmosphere seems to be quite a bad idea.