top | item 46712789

(no title)

Gravityloss | 1 month ago

Thought experiment: Let's say you are simulating ten thousand satellites on your computer, and the simulation runs until there is a crash. Now let's say the simulation runs for an hour normally. If you increase the speed of the simulation, you get to a crash in a shorter time. Satellites move about 30x the speed of airliners. Hence, if everything else was similar, one would expect 30x the amount of collisions.

discuss

order

JumpCrisscross|1 month ago

> Satellites move about 30x the speed of airliners. Hence, if everything else was similar, one would expect 30x the amount of collisions

Not how orbital mechanics work.

Planes maneuvers, get tossed around and have hubs they circle. A plane under my left wing can’t be relied on to continue in a straight line. The satellite can.

Gravityloss|1 month ago

Of course. But your comment that speed is not a factor was incorrect.