Too Many Satellites in Earth Orbit

[scarp]

Got a Z...........well it's a ZX.

[silicone boy]

Hahahaha Whoa love the new avatar... so ah, some of your own handy work?

 

 

 

Nope. Just some internet chick. I couldn't post patient photos. See my recent thread on the my rotating hot chick avatar. It's all to celebrate my favorite substance, silicone, and its effect on hot chicks.

[Z-Dreamer]

Damn Scarp looooonnnnngggg time no hear from!

What happened to you? Did you just get out of prison or what?

 

Mark

[auxilary]

Mark, there are some REALLY funny stories about scarp and prison... it's just a matter of whether he wants to tell them or not. But he's been MIA because he enjoys hanging around civic forums revolving around drama

[RPMS]

Satellites will not colide into each other. Depending on the mission of the spacecraft, it will have a different orbit and there are limitless amounts of orbits up there.

 

Yes, there are almost limitless orbits, and yes, things will collide. Even if things hadn't already collided (which they have) random chance would dictate that there is a non-zero possiblity of collision between any two random objects, and the more objects there are, the higher the probability of collision.

 

Don't sweat it too much, though. Since gravity is a non-static system, things are either moving towards the Earth or away from it. Eventually ALL the crap will either fall into the sun or into the Earth's gravity well. Perfect, static orbits are impossible. Might take a couple of hundred years, but it WILL happen.

[TomoHawk]

 

 

Exactly.

[SleeperZ]

All earth orbits will eventually decay, but not because of the distance from earth, but because the vacuum isn't perfect, and friction eventually slows the satellites down enough to spiral in.

[TomoHawk]

I was doing som research into this subject, and found an interesting fact on the Microsoft site. It has some software that you can add to your Win 98 "active desktop" tp track over 7,000 satellites: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/gallery/

7 thousand!

 

From what you hear of off the record, you get the idea that thare are only 24 GPS plus about another 2 dozen telecomm satellites, and that's it. There are 75 categories you can pick on the tracking software

 

Plus 'spy' satellites, weather satellites, USGS satellites, other scientific satellites. AND those of other countries...

[baddriver]

I understand the concern here, but there are a couple of points I'd like to bring up for discussion.

 

First of all, there is far more junk in space left over from comets, meteors, and general space clutter than has been shot there from earth. Most of it is tiny dust sure, but there are a lot of larger pieces. Watch any of the annual meteor showers to get an idea of how much stuff is already there.

 

Second, hey, space is big. Now, I don't mean to sound sarcastic about this, but imagine seven thousand sattelites piled up in a mound on earth. It'll probably be the size of your local scrap yard. Now look at that pile from orbit. See it? No? that's because the earth is some 7000 miles in diameter, and orbit is several miles larger than that.

 

Now I don't mean to downplay the seriousness of space garbage, but I think maybe you guys are getting a little too excited a little too soon. I know that the speed at which these things travel makes them highly dangerous to astronauts, and they cover distance so quickly that the possibility of collision is pretty high, but I'm not sure that the danger exceeds the risks already inherent in space travel. And I could care less if someone's cable tv sattelite gets blown to bits. I think I would count that as a victory for the forces of good.

 

Of course, everyone has thier pet environmental issues, like the fact that ocean fishing now catches about 1/10th the quantity of fish that were caught using the same size nets 50 years ago. That worries me a bit. But probably only becaue I like fish.

[TomoHawk]

GREED, GREED, GREED... That's why there's no fish left. "Americans" want more. They want it faster. EXCESS. "Never mind the penalty, just do it!" Overfishing didn't become a problem until the Industrial age.

 

That's why I klinda like my Z car, I'm recycling and not creating more waste by buying a new car which is made of plastic/petrochemicals. The recycling industry should find a way to recycle 100% of every car.

 

.I've seen a few meteor showers...

 

I'm in for getting rid of all the satellites up there too. No more GPS, satellite radio or phones, global TV coverage. We were happy without all that stuff and we can be happy again with simpler lives.

 

I think everybody should get back to the basics without all that technology for a few years. You can't claim to be a real technological expert if you don't know how to get along WITHOUT it!

 

Would you know what to do if your GPS navigator quit? Or your cell phone? TV dish?

[Guest Iceickle]

How many are they going to shoot up there? Eventually' date=' they are going to start colliding and we'll end up polluting the apace all the WAY around the planet! It'll be like smog, only instead of localizing it around cities, it'll be EVERYWHERE when you look up. The things range from flecks of paint to open-end wrenches to parts of the Saturn V rockets (that haven't fallen back). Even the little flecks of paint at the speed they travel can put a hole through a space suit and probably through a person, let alone a whole rocket stage (only a few tons)!

 

If it didn't burn up while falling through the upper atmosphere, it would rain down on our heads! In case you didn't know, the space shuttle has been hit at least twice, one putting a big pit in a front window. Eventually they will stop sending up the space shuttle because it'll blow up every time from getting hit.

 

We should limit how many Satellites are up there. Especially with the space station getting built, as big as it is; there is the biggest risk. Lotsa people with plain clothes in a pressurized tube of air. One hit, and they're all DEAD.[/quote']

 

 

This is fairly strange... Do you have ANY idea just how FREAKING HUGE the Earth is compared to a satellite the size of a fridge? And how many man hours are put into reasearching the flight paths of new satellites put into orbit? And how many different layers are possible do the the FREAKING HUGE nature of the Earth's orbit? All of these factors combine to make the possibility of satellites colliding very small. (but it does happen as you say... 2 times out of how many?? isnt bad). VERY SMALL!.

 

That said, when satellites are decommisioned, they are usually sent roaring into the Earth's atmoshphere to disintergrate. And also orbital decay leads to satellites not having an infinitely long life...

 

I honestly have no ******* idea why you are so worried! Where are these flecks of paint coming from? They surely cannot be purposfully launched into orbit, so chances are they will decay in the atmosphere very quickly. Keeping a stable orbit is something that cannot just 'happen', an object will either escape the earths gravitational field, or will spiral down into it.

 

Did you stop and think of how much material would be required to create the smog you are discribing? Honestly i think you are living in some kind of fantasy world... Just think about how much material there would have to be to create a smog effect that you can actually see, and have trouble seeing through, it would have to be hundreds of kilometres (if not THOUSANDS) thick, and cover the whole earth... Yeah i can see that happening

 

And before something will come down and hit our head, an object has to be much much larger (and denser) than a satellite or space station to have any chance of leaving a chunk of stuff capable of doing any damage.

 

 

I would say just dont worry about it, you are making problems out of nothing

[Guest zfan]

Space trash Gotta put traffic signals up for the satellites!

 

Mike