Screenshot of social media post. Reads, “Everyone was saying that the May geomag activity had no impact on the satellites. Of course we knew this was wrong. Over one hundred sats re-entered during this period and now a paper is showing that thousands of Starlinks had to move. Holy fuck. Imagine if those thousands had to re-enter. This. Is. Insane. We. Must. Stop. Launching. Shit. NOW. https://spaceweather.com

  • Fluffgar@sh.itjust.worksOP
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    2 months ago

    As I understand it, and that understanding could be flawed, burning up a lot of satellites containing a lot of substances not usually found in our upper atmosphere may have consequences. No-one has done the due diligence to know whether this is the case or not. Or if these consequences would be significant for us.

    Also, “re-entered” might not mean burning up fully.

    • 14th_cylon@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      2 months ago

      No-one has done the due diligence to know whether this is the case or not.

      so lets maybe not raise the god of apocalypse. these satellites are really small objects, their volume is absolutely insignificant to the bullshit we create down here on the sea level…

      • yggstyle@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        2 months ago

        Agreed. This would be in line with the many meteor showers we have… which arguably could contain more “unknown” substances than what we mined out of our own crust.

        This feels a bit more like a bit of fear mongering than actual reporting / science.

        There are many reasons to be concerned with what we have in orbit… this isn’t one of them.

      • Fluffgar@sh.itjust.worksOP
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        2 months ago

        I hardly think a post by some random (me) is “raising the god of the apocalypse”. But that’s sweet of you to say <3

        And you are correct that there are significant other issues, with known effects, that need to be addressed as well.

        • 14th_cylon@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          2 months ago

          I hardly think a post by some random (me) is “raising the god of the apocalypse”.

          i meant the hysterical "This. Is. Insane. We. Must. Stop. Launching. Shit. NOW. "

        • riplin@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          2 months ago

          Have you compared it to the amount of meteors that enters the earth’s atmosphere daily? That’s on average 48.5 tons. Every day. Those are made up of silicates, carbon, metals, all kinds of stuff.