Re:Amazon asked FCC to reject Starlink plan because it can’t...
by gonesilent on Thursday September 02, 2021 @02:16AM
(#28389191)
Both Tesla and SpaceX have lost employees in small aircraft accidents. While not industrial in nature the push to rush and be places at times should be counted.
Re:Amazon asked FCC to reject Starlink plan because it can’t...
by inglor_cz on Thursday September 02, 2021 @02:38AM
(#28389302)
You are being downvoted, but the core idea isn't entirely wrong, it is only too crude and needs some further analysis. (E.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn_suicides)
To actually start blaming the employers with some level of plausibility, I think you would have to show that rate of small aircraft accidents for their employees is significantly higher than average for similar unaffiliated group of youngish men who like to fly small aircraft.
There is some background nonzero level of death in flying small aircraft (or suicide, alcoholism or other common ills). Unless it can be shown that the levels of such ills among employees of some Acme.com is significantly higher than background noise, it is not fair to assign blame to Acme.com.
Even then there can be confounding factors, but that is a different story.
They had no human fatalities ever, which is remarkable for a 19 year old aerospace company (obviously there weren't many launches with people, but accidents happen on surface, too; this is heavy industry after all). And they haven't lost even a dead payload in what, last 100 launches? And if you happen to watch the launches from time to time, you will know why: they do not hesitate to scrub if they do not like something.
This is the opposite of the mentality that brought us the Challenger and Columbia disasters and I am happy that someone can actually square this level of prudency with rapid technical development.
As for Kessler syndrome, orbital decay is very strong at Starlink heights. Even if the entire fleet were abandoned, the orbits would be clear within 3-5 years. Nothing stays long at this height without active help of engines. The thin wisps of atmosphere still present will slow it down and drag it back to burn.