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Prof. Sam Lawler
Prof. Sam Lawler
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago
A histogram of the number of active satellites in Earth orbit over time, colour-coded by Starlink, other maneuverable payloads, and non-maneuverable payloads. The number steadily increases with about equal fraction maneuverable and non maneuverable, from 1960 until 2000, when there's a small jump in the number of maneuverable payloads. And then in 2019 Starlink starts shooting up and absolutely dominates the overall number. The total number of active satellites follows a hockey-stick shape, where the inflection point is 2019 when Starlink started launching.
A histogram of the number of active satellites in Earth orbit over time, colour-coded by Starlink, other maneuverable payloads, and non-maneuverable payloads. The number steadily increases with about equal fraction maneuverable and non maneuverable, from 1960 until 2000, when there's a small jump in the number of maneuverable payloads. And then in 2019 Starlink starts shooting up and absolutely dominates the overall number. The total number of active satellites follows a hockey-stick shape, where the inflection point is 2019 when Starlink started launching.
A histogram of the number of active satellites in Earth orbit over time, colour-coded by Starlink, other maneuverable payloads, and non-maneuverable payloads. The number steadily increases with about equal fraction maneuverable and non maneuverable, from 1960 until 2000, when there's a small jump in the number of maneuverable payloads. And then in 2019 Starlink starts shooting up and absolutely dominates the overall number. The total number of active satellites follows a hockey-stick shape, where the inflection point is 2019 when Starlink started launching.
Oliver Schafeld
Oliver Schafeld
@oliver_schafeld@mastodon.online  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago
Earth's orbit is starting to look like an LA freeway, with more and more satellites being launched each year. If you're worried about collisions and space debris making the area unusable – and you should be – scientists have proposed a new metric to contribute to your anxiety: the CRASH Clock. The CRASH (Collision Realization And Significant Harm) Clock is a proposed Key Environmental Indicator (KEI) to give an estimate of how long it would take before a catastrophic collision occurs if collision avoidance maneuvers cease or there is a loss of situation awareness. The clock is currently 2.8 days, which doesn't sound too bad until you consider that in 2018, before the mega-constellation launches got underway (yes, Starlink, we're looking at you), the CRASH Clock was 121 days. Professor Sam Lawler explained the origin of the acronym in a post on Mastodon: "We needed a metric. I originally wanted to do something like 'Kessler Countdown' or 'Kessler Clock' but this isn't a countdown to Kessler Syndrome, it's just showing how bad things are in orbit, and how quickly they could get worse. So, our name for this metric is... Collision Realization And Significant Harm: the CRASH Clock!" — The Register
Earth's orbit is starting to look like an LA freeway, with more and more satellites being launched each year. If you're worried about collisions and space debris making the area unusable – and you should be – scientists have proposed a new metric to contribute to your anxiety: the CRASH Clock. The CRASH (Collision Realization And Significant Harm) Clock is a proposed Key Environmental Indicator (KEI) to give an estimate of how long it would take before a catastrophic collision occurs if collision avoidance maneuvers cease or there is a loss of situation awareness. The clock is currently 2.8 days, which doesn't sound too bad until you consider that in 2018, before the mega-constellation launches got underway (yes, Starlink, we're looking at you), the CRASH Clock was 121 days. Professor Sam Lawler explained the origin of the acronym in a post on Mastodon: "We needed a metric. I originally wanted to do something like 'Kessler Countdown' or 'Kessler Clock' but this isn't a countdown to Kessler Syndrome, it's just showing how bad things are in orbit, and how quickly they could get worse. So, our name for this metric is... Collision Realization And Significant Harm: the CRASH Clock!" — The Register
Earth's orbit is starting to look like an LA freeway, with more and more satellites being launched each year. If you're worried about collisions and space debris making the area unusable – and you should be – scientists have proposed a new metric to contribute to your anxiety: the CRASH Clock. The CRASH (Collision Realization And Significant Harm) Clock is a proposed Key Environmental Indicator (KEI) to give an estimate of how long it would take before a catastrophic collision occurs if collision avoidance maneuvers cease or there is a loss of situation awareness. The clock is currently 2.8 days, which doesn't sound too bad until you consider that in 2018, before the mega-constellation launches got underway (yes, Starlink, we're looking at you), the CRASH Clock was 121 days. Professor Sam Lawler explained the origin of the acronym in a post on Mastodon: "We needed a metric. I originally wanted to do something like 'Kessler Countdown' or 'Kessler Clock' but this isn't a countdown to Kessler Syndrome, it's just showing how bad things are in orbit, and how quickly they could get worse. So, our name for this metric is... Collision Realization And Significant Harm: the CRASH Clock!" — The Register
Ray McCarthy
Ray McCarthy
@raymaccarthy@mastodon.ie  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago
Erika
Erika
@Erika@ruhr.social  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago
Inc Hulk 🧪
Inc Hulk 🧪
@IncHulk@mastodon.green  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago