SpaceX punched a hole in the ionosphere
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SpaceX punched a hole in the ionosphere
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Re: SpaceX punched a hole in the ionosphere
#2[flagged]
Re: SpaceX punched a hole in the ionosphere
#3[deleted]
Re: SpaceX punched a hole in the ionosphere
#4I saw the launch from southern california. My first ever seeing a rocket go up. It was pretty amazing to watch the thing streak across the sky. Sadly, missed the red glow though.
Re: SpaceX punched a hole in the ionosphere
#5Seems like this isn't considered to be a big issue, beyond that it is a very visible thing that instinctively 'feels' like a bad idea.
> Rocket engines spray water (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2) into the ionosphere, quenching local ionization by as much as 70%. A complicated series of charge exchange reactions between oxygen ions (O+) and molecules from the rocket exhaust produce photons at a wavelength of 6300 Å–the same color as red auroras.
> Once rare, ionospheric “punch holes” are increasingly common with record numbers of rocket launches led by SpaceX sending Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit. Ham radio operators may notice them... These effects may be troublesome, but they are shortlived; re-ionization occurs as soon as the sun comes up again.
Re: SpaceX punched a hole in the ionosphere
#6Seems like this isn't considered to be a big issue, beyond that it is a very visible thing that instinctively 'feels' like a bad idea. > Rocket engines spray water (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2) into the ionosphere, quenching local ionization by as much as 70%. A complicated series of charge exchange reactions between oxygen ions (O+) and molecules from the rocket exhaust produce photons at a wavelength of 6300 Å–the…
Will excess radiation leak through to Earth during re-ionization?
Re: SpaceX punched a hole in the ionosphere
#7Starlink plans to deploy 12,000 - 42,000 satellites. What if two competitors want to do the same? Can the low earth orbit handle 150,000 satellites that turn into space debris at some point?
Re: SpaceX punched a hole in the ionosphere
#8Starlink plans to deploy 12,000 - 42,000 satellites. What if two competitors want to do the same? Can the low earth orbit handle 150,000 satellites that turn into space debris at some point?
Yes.
Re: SpaceX punched a hole in the ionosphere
#9Starlink plans to deploy 12,000 - 42,000 satellites. What if two competitors want to do the same? Can the low earth orbit handle 150,000 satellites that turn into space debris at some point?
The waste, waste majority of sats never turn into space debris. Every single sat that launches today in the West has a deorbit planned. The only sat that turn into space debris will be those that brake unexpectitly and totally unrecoverable.
And the Starlink sats are so low that they dont really turn very meaningful debris ever.
And in general, yes LEO can handle millions of sats.
We have like 150k cars in a single tiny country on earth right now.
Re: SpaceX punched a hole in the ionosphere
#10Seems like this isn't considered to be a big issue, beyond that it is a very visible thing that instinctively 'feels' like a bad idea. > Rocket engines spray water (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2) into the ionosphere, quenching local ionization by as much as 70%. A complicated series of charge exchange reactions between oxygen ions (O+) and molecules from the rocket exhaust produce photons at a wavelength of 6300 Å–the…
Will excess radiation leak through to Earth during re-ionization?
If the holes are quickly healed by sunlight, and only local to where a satellite is launched, the answer would seem to be no.