175
A Starlink satellite broke apart in orbit after suffering an unexplained "anomaly"
(www.scientificamerican.com)
this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2026
175 points (99.4% liked)
Mildly Interesting
26007 readers
592 users here now
This is for strictly mildly interesting material. If it's too interesting, it doesn't belong. If it's not interesting, it doesn't belong.
This is obviously an objective criteria, so the mods are always right. Or maybe mildly right? Ahh.. what do we know?
Just post some stuff and don't spam.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Those are in very low earth orbit, basically they can only take out themselves.
And the Ozone layer again, potentially.
https://www.science.org/content/article/burned-satellites-are-polluting-atmosphere
Yay... Didn't know that
Yes, but collisions can always accelerate parts and new debris, bringing them to a higher orbit.
But a more eccentric one, no collision is going to waive away orbital mechanics.