Re:The world must cooperate to avoid colliding satellites an...
by Retric on Thursday August 19, 2021 @01:35PM
(#28236800)
That debris cloud is an abstraction, actual post collision orbits of individual objects are what matters.
At 300km satellites experience significant drag and need regular boosts to maintain orbit. After collision individual objects orbit will almost always include it’s altitude at the point of impact and generally expends above and below that point. So while yes the cloud extends to higher orbit, everything would deorbit from your example extremely quickly.
At 300km satellites experience significant drag and need regular boosts to maintain orbit. After collision individual objects orbit will almost always include it’s altitude at the point of impact and generally expends above and below that point. So while yes the cloud extends to higher orbit, everything would deorbit from your example extremely quickly.