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A comment on Sky skimmers: The race to fly satellites at the lowest orbits yet. Parent comment

Re:Sky skimmers: The race to fly satellites at the lowest or... by rsynnott on Wednesday February 12, 2025 @06:48AM (#43024383)
> and they don't regularly and necessarily burn to ashes!

_In principle_, a VLEO satellite could stay up forever (or, well, realistically until the engine wore out).

Weather balloons also don't last forever.

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Re:Sky skimmers: The race to fly satellites at the lowest or... by BalloonsInVLEO on Wednesday February 12, 2025 @10:28AM (#43026318)
There are atomic oxygen issues for VLEO sats, the front of the satellite slowly corrodes away from the impacts. They're longer lived than current balloons but mission lifetimes more than low single digit years aren't really feasible right now.
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