this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2024
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NASA creates space sustainability division to consolidate orbital debris activities (spacenews.com)
submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/nasa
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[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

spaceX satellite constellation orbital debris

Starlink satellites orbit at only 500 km, and can actively conduct collision avoidance maneuvers, so the chance that they generate dangerous debris is quite low. Most problematic orbital debris are from unpassivated upper stages and government ASAT tests.

[–] NegativeInf 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Your comment vs the other response I got to this seem to clash.

And I am calling them as a whole orbital debris. Not what they may break up into.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

I am calling them as a whole orbital debris

Ah, the term "orbital debris" refers to "defunct human-made objects in orbit which no longer serve a useful function". Operational satellites do not fall into this category.

As for aluminum oxide pollution in the stratosphere, that is a serious issue which SpaceX needs to address. However, I'm not sure that stratospheric pollution would fall under the jurisdiction of NASA's new orbital debris division.