I have to update the Starlink numbers in my talk.

I have to update the Starlink numbers in my talk. But this time, I last gave my talk TWO DAYS AGO. This is stupid.

There are 27 more Starlinks in orbit today than there were on Monday: there are now 9,526 Starlink satellites orbiting above our heads.

1,458 have already been burned up in the atmosphere (and at least 1 of those made it to the ground in the easiest place in the world to find space debris...) adding many hundreds of tons of weird metals to the stratosphere. #ProfSamLectureTour

I have to update the Starlink numbers in my talk. But this time, I last gave my talk TWO DAYS AGO. This is stupid.

There are 27 more Starlinks in orbit today than there were on Monday: there are now 9,526 Starlink satellites orbiting above our heads.

1,458 have already been burned up in the atmosphere (and at least 1 of those made it to the ground in the easiest place in the world to find space debris...) adding many hundreds of tons of weird metals to the stratosphere. #ProfSamLectureTour

I have to update the Starlink numbers in my talk. But this time, I last gave my talk TWO DAYS AGO. This is stupid.

There are 27 more Starlinks in orbit today than there were on Monday: there are now 9,526 Starlink satellites orbiting above our heads.

1,458 have already been burned up in the atmosphere (and at least 1 of those made it to the ground in the easiest place in the world to find space debris...) adding many hundreds of tons of weird metals to the stratosphere. #ProfSamLectureTour

Oh fuck, there are 9 more Xingwang megaconstellation satellites in orbit compared to Monday as well. Time to go outside (and not see any stars. I am really tired of cities).

@sundogplanets I've just read that they are aiming for at least 12K (potentially 34K) satellites, with an average lifetime of 5-7 years.

Sorry if this question has been answered elsewhere already, but... is there any information about what 2,000 downed satellites each year will do to our atmosphere, exactly?

@bocops @sundogplanets

I've heard 40,000.

I have to update the Starlink numbers in my talk. But this time, I last gave my talk TWO DAYS AGO. This is stupid.

There are 27 more Starlinks in orbit today than there were on Monday: there are now 9,526 Starlink satellites orbiting above our heads.

1,458 have already been burned up in the atmosphere (and at least 1 of those made it to the ground in the easiest place in the world to find space debris...) adding many hundreds of tons of weird metals to the stratosphere. #ProfSamLectureTour

I have to update the Starlink numbers in my talk. But this time, I last gave my talk TWO DAYS AGO. This is stupid.

There are 27 more Starlinks in orbit today than there were on Monday: there are now 9,526 Starlink satellites orbiting above our heads.

1,458 have already been burned up in the atmosphere (and at least 1 of those made it to the ground in the easiest place in the world to find space debris...) adding many hundreds of tons of weird metals to the stratosphere. #ProfSamLectureTour

Oh fuck, there are 9 more Xingwang megaconstellation satellites in orbit compared to Monday as well. Time to go outside (and not see any stars. I am really tired of cities).

I have to update the Starlink numbers in my talk. But this time, I last gave my talk TWO DAYS AGO. This is stupid.

There are 27 more Starlinks in orbit today than there were on Monday: there are now 9,526 Starlink satellites orbiting above our heads.

1,458 have already been burned up in the atmosphere (and at least 1 of those made it to the ground in the easiest place in the world to find space debris...) adding many hundreds of tons of weird metals to the stratosphere. #ProfSamLectureTour

I have to update the Starlink numbers in my talk. But this time, I last gave my talk TWO DAYS AGO. This is stupid.

There are 27 more Starlinks in orbit today than there were on Monday: there are now 9,526 Starlink satellites orbiting above our heads.

1,458 have already been burned up in the atmosphere (and at least 1 of those made it to the ground in the easiest place in the world to find space debris...) adding many hundreds of tons of weird metals to the stratosphere. #ProfSamLectureTour

@sundogplanets

Here is thought experiment, which might make you incredibly depressed if being any more depressed in this day and age as possible: these satellites have a definite lifetime, and there is some expectation that some of them will become damaged and fall from orbit.

Injection of satellites means a consequential and maybe exponential death rates. That’s just basic demographics.

I have to update the Starlink numbers in my talk. But this time, I last gave my talk TWO DAYS AGO. This is stupid.

There are 27 more Starlinks in orbit today than there were on Monday: there are now 9,526 Starlink satellites orbiting above our heads.

1,458 have already been burned up in the atmosphere (and at least 1 of those made it to the ground in the easiest place in the world to find space debris...) adding many hundreds of tons of weird metals to the stratosphere. #ProfSamLectureTour

I have to update the Starlink numbers in my talk. But this time, I last gave my talk TWO DAYS AGO. This is stupid.

There are 27 more Starlinks in orbit today than there were on Monday: there are now 9,526 Starlink satellites orbiting above our heads.

1,458 have already been burned up in the atmosphere (and at least 1 of those made it to the ground in the easiest place in the world to find space debris...) adding many hundreds of tons of weird metals to the stratosphere. #ProfSamLectureTour

I have to update the Starlink numbers in my talk. But this time, I last gave my talk TWO DAYS AGO. This is stupid.

There are 27 more Starlinks in orbit today than there were on Monday: there are now 9,526 Starlink satellites orbiting above our heads.

1,458 have already been burned up in the atmosphere (and at least 1 of those made it to the ground in the easiest place in the world to find space debris...) adding many hundreds of tons of weird metals to the stratosphere. #ProfSamLectureTour

@sundogplanets sorry for the intrusion but I imagine you update these numbers before your speech. What if you did it during your speech to show just how crazy it is. You could say you last updated it on so and so but lets update the number right now and then possibly people would be shocked at just how many more there are. Anyways disregard if this is silly nonsense.

@thejacenallen HA!! I love this idea! Doing math in front of a lot of people is a recipe for disaster, but I love this

@sundogplanets

is anyone quantifying/studying the possible effects/persistance/deposition specifics of the injection of vaporized metals etc in the atmosphere from de-orbiting starlink satellites (and others) ?

Is this ~15% attrition rate on these starlink satellites expected to be a sustained rate over the life of the program? If so... cumulatively, this could become quite significant over time. I do hope it's being looked at.

@thejacenallen HA!! I love this idea! Doing math in front of a lot of people is a recipe for disaster, but I love this

@kitkat_blue Here's one paper: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2024GL109280