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Intelsat 33e breaks up in geostationary orbit

(spacenews.com)
157 points milgrim | 6 comments | 21 Oct 24 14:09 UTC | HN request time: 0.206s | source | bottom
1. ck2 ◴[21 Oct 24 15:26 UTC] No.41905205[source]▶
Privatize the profit, socialize the cleanup costs.

Start making these companies pay into an insurance superfund.

Who is going to pay the day SpaceX has a "whoops" ?

replies(3): >>41905344 #>>41905586 #>>41905648 #
2. eagerpace ◴[21 Oct 24 15:41 UTC] No.41905344[source]▶
Pay for what?
replies(2): >>41905485 #>>41905592 #
3. n-exploit ◴[21 Oct 24 15:56 UTC] No.41905485[source]▶
Any future risk events related to negligence?
4. whywhywhywhy ◴[21 Oct 24 16:06 UTC] No.41905586[source]▶
What cleanup costs?
5. qwertox ◴[21 Oct 24 16:06 UTC] No.41905592[source]▶
The removal of the debris.
6. nordsieck ◴[21 Oct 24 16:13 UTC] No.41905648[source]▶
> Who is going to pay the day SpaceX has a "whoops" ?

Ironically, SpaceX is probably one of the least bad companies in that regard.

1. They launch satellites to a very low LEO orbit. The satellites use their onboard thrusters to get to their final orbits. This means that satellites that malfunction early in their life (the first lip of the bathtub[1]) deorbit in a matter of months. And they're so low, they don't affect anyone else.

2. And even Starlink satellites that do fail are at such a low orbital height that they'll spontaneously deorbit in 5-10 years.

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1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub_curve