Not one major news outlet is covering the destruction of Starlink this summer. Though Lemmy might enjoy Elon losing more money.
Not one major news outlet is covering the destruction of Starlink this summer. Though Lemmy might enjoy Elon losing more money.
The difference between an orbit that lasts 5 years and one that lasts a hundred is approximately 100-200km, the limit is quite sharp and actually quite tricky to get exactly right. That will cost you about a millisecond or two in latency tops. It is more likely that SpaceX is required to adhere to rules made by the FCC/FAA.
550km height is partly to ensure that they WILL deorbit in a reasonable time if failed or EOL. Which is important for such a huge number of (relatively cheap) satellites.