this post was submitted on 22 Apr 2026
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The only worry about low earth orbit is something survives reentry enough to become a bomb. these are enough to destroy a house if that happens - my undertanding is this can't happen but if they did
Starlink satellites aren't large enough to survive the heat of reentry. A more likely concern is the various materials vaporizing and dispersing into the atmosphere, as was mentioned in the article.
That being said, calling them "heavy metals" like the interviewee did is rather dubious. We're not talking about lead, as what most readers imagine when they hear that term. It's mainly aluminum and copper. The person interviewed is picking their words to overexaggerate their claims
Well if the atmosphere decides it's going to have a day off then I'll start to worry.
The temperatures generated by reentry are not just hot enough to vaporize a satellite they are way beyond hot enough to vaporize a satellite. I can't imagine any scenario where a satellite survives. In any case the vast majority of the orbits are controlled, Which means they come down over the ocean.
Reentry survival is a materials question. If someone decides heat resistant ceramic is cheaper all is well until that cames down and we discover it doesn't vaporize like iron (or whatever they make it with)
Yeah because that's likely. You do realise that everything that goes up has to pass inspections right they don't just let people do random things. Anything that gets put in orbit is verified by people way smarter than you or me. You really don't need to worry about it.
There's lots of stuff in this world to be concerned about but being hit by the orbiting asteroid is absolutely not one of them.
I would hope so. You seem to be under the mistaken impression I think the above is likely. It is possible is my point.
It's not only unlikely it functionally impossible. It would require the complete collapse of every system in existence in order to be even marginally probable.
You're wanting a system to re-enter under extreme heat, survive, and necessarily hit a populated area with enough mass to do destructive damage.
Likelihood of that happening accidentally are so low is do not be worth calculating. But yeah I'm sure you have some sort of point.