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Comment by throwahey | Hacker News Reader

Space is big, we won't be running into any issues with satellite collisions since they can be positioned in three-dimensions and there is a lot of space.

Operational satellites are not considered space-junk since they typically have predictable or fixed orbits which can be avoided. Space junk is non-operational stuff, with potentially unpredictable orbits.

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so long as it has a sufficient radar cross section, the orbits of non-operational stuff can be predicted just fine.

NORAD tracks the location of everything big enough to track, and makes it all available.

> and makes it all available

Well not 'all'; naturally the published elements omit objects related to 'national security' and objects which weren't announced as space vehicles e.g. debris.

They are also published under a very restrictive license; I can't forward the elements to you, nor publish anything derived from them, such as predictions for a pass. End-user eyes only.

All satellites will eventually be non-operational, so the question is: do they have a plan for picking up these 4500 pieces of future space junk once they are no longer in use?

Low orbit junk quickly falls back onto earth if not supported by engines.

"quickly" can still be several years, or more.

The industry standard is deorbit within 25 years after end of mission. The SpaceX proposal (1) plans for deorbiting of every satellite within one year after the end of their mission.

(1) http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/ib/forms/report...

They're in LOE, so they just go into atmosphere and burn.

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