this post was submitted on 16 Apr 2024
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science

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just science related topics. please contribute

note: clickbait sources/headlines aren't liked generally. I've posted crap sources and later deleted or edit to improve after complaints. whoops, sry

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Could 'trap or deflect' our magnetosphere. I'm not a scientist... and it sounds like the writer isn't either.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

In before Kessler Syndrome

[–] [email protected] 29 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I looked at the paper they’re talking about (which has not yet been peer reviewed), and I couldn’t find any past peer reviewed research from the author. The paper also doesn’t really explain any of its arguments past referencing sometimes unrelated stuff that “sounds scientific,” so I suspect it will be rejected from any reasonable journal. One example is the statement that the Van Allen belts protect earth, they are just belts of captured particles that could have been harmful to earth. There have been proposals to eliminate them to protect satellites (see https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/AD1095699.pdf). Also I don’t like how they keep using their quoted van allen belt mass of 180 mg to make other numbers seem very large, what makes the Van Allen belts relevant is their electrons have a lot of energy (moving at >0.2 c), whereas the particulate from reentry is much lower energy. The paper doesn’t explain how lots of low energy particulate is related to a tiny amount of captured high energy radiation, so mass comparisons between them (“a billion times heavier”) don’t make sense.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

Interesting, thanks for the tip on your comment. 👍

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

Are dead satellites really "filling" space with trash?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

Not really, see my other comment on the post for what I think about the article.

[–] [email protected] -5 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

This will be a problem for everyone, which sucks. If I have to die a fiery death, at least I'll die knowing the super rich won't make it off planet because of all the space junk. As a plus we might not need a BBQ if it gets hot enough.....^eat ^^the ^^^rich

Can't get rich to go smaller....surprise.....

Edit:
Really? Eh, you guys have no sense of humour. Is this a legitimate serious issue? Fuck yes it is. Is there anything any one of us can actually do about it? Eat the rich

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

No one thinks the shit going on in politics right now is funny. It is not even gallows humor.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

I think you're getting downvoted because usually we come to this community for space-related news, and not hear about politics stuff for five minutes, jest or not.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Very interesting article

The issue feels a lot like climate change. Pollution that affects us on a global scale that will make some people immensely rich and it's up to the cooperation of countries to research, mitigate, and control it

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Updated

Not sure why I'm being down voted so much, lol.

Wish people would engage if they disagree instead of just doing a drive by

I'm friendly, I promise!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I think a lot of people believe the science in this article to be problematic. Another poster went into several reasons. It's heavy on persuasive language, shy of facts, and many of the facts are suspect, and it hasn't been accepted by any publications so it hasn't gotten any peer review. It's possible it hasn't gotten any publication because the apparently quality is so low.

It might be that people see your comment as accepting the validity of the claims which suspiciously have no peer review, and are then jumping the gun by associating it to things which ARE well scientifically established like climate change.

It's kinda leaping to an ethical and political discussion when there are a lot of outstanding questions about the science. And this is /c/science.

I can't speak for others. I didn't downvote you. But, your comment wasn't really... Science?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

I can see that. I didn't mention the lack of evidence problem because the author did that in spades. I guess that's what I get for just firing off a comment!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

that will make some people immensely rich

Not sure what this means. Most satelites make everyone a little bit richer (weather, GPS, communication satelites).

it’s up to the cooperation of countries to research, mitigate, and control it

I would argue that companies SpaceX have a lot to lose from space debris. If space becomes inaccessible, they can't do any business. They do a lot to mitigate space debris (especially with Starlink), and this is rational because too much space debris threatens their mission.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Not sure; I up-voted you. 🥲