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submitted 1 year ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

US government issues first-ever space debris penalty to Dish Network::Dish to pay $150,000 for failing to properly dispose of satellite and violating the FCC’s anti-space debris rule

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[-] SirEDCaLot@lemmy.fmhy.net 5 points 1 year ago

Nice in concept.

In practice this is useless- a $150k fine when removing the satellite will someday cost millions.

It's also worth noting that de-orbiting was never the plan here. Geosynchronous satellites are too far up to make that practical- at 22,000 mi altitude, the amount of delta-v necessary for a deorbit is gigantic. So instead the satellite 'boosts' up to a 'graveyard' orbit about 300km above the geosynchronous ring.
Dish only boosted it 122km above the geosynchronous ring. Thus the fine. In practice this satellite will probably cause nobody any problems.

this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2023
222 points (98.3% liked)

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