News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on $50SAT. Parent comment

Re:$50SAT by bagels on Tuesday November 29, 2022 @08:43PM (#33795876)
I will take this question at face value. No, it re-entered, and is not orbital junk. https://www.n2yo.com/satellite/?s=39436#results
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:$50SAT by jonas21 on Tuesday November 29, 2022 @08:55PM (#33795953)
Ah, that's good to know. I was concerned at first because their "current location" link [1] shows an object still in orbit. But I realize now that the site defaults to showing the ISS if it can't find the object.

[1] http://www.satview.org/?sat_id=39436U

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:$50SAT by danielheath on Tuesday November 29, 2022 @10:46PM (#33796809)
Low orbits (eg Starlink) decay very quickly - if the satellites thruster failed, it would burn up due to drag within 8 years (typically satellites deliberately de-orbit via thruster at EOL).

Cheap satellites almost exclusively use low orbits since they are cheaper to reach.

[ Parent | on HN ]