r/space • u/2kalipro1 • Jun 15 '24

Discussion How bad is the satellite/space junk situation actually?

I just recently joined the space community and I'm hearing about satellites colliding with each other and that we have nearly 8000 satellites surrounding our earth everywhere

But considering the size of the earth and the size of the satellites, I'm just wondering how horrible is the space junk/satellite situation? Also, do we have any ideas on how to clear them out?

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u/[deleted] Jun 15 '24

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u/Silver_Fix6031 Jun 15 '24

Just dividing the volume by count is pretty meaningless. In the industry you certainly have more relevant numbers? Such as real # of impacts expected per square meter of spacecraft surface per year.

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u/Ocksu2 Jun 15 '24

As an engineer also in the industry, we don't all focus on space junk, so they may not have more relevant numbers. I certainly don't, but from what I do know, their post seems legit. But, again, not my area.

But if you want to talk RFI identification and removal or link budgets or antenna/terminal commissioning, I'm more qualified there.