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Comment by dotancohen | Hacker News Reader

  > legally mandated reentry in 25 years.

What is this requirement?

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A few, but he one that is the closest rubber that hits the road is part of the FCC filing for radio spectrum access on satellite projects. Without which, you're not getting on most rockets.

I am not aware of the FCC mandating satellite deorbit plans as a condition for receiving a transmission band.

Swarm breached the "Mitigation of Orbital Debris Second Report and Order" which has been in place since 2004[0], for their launch on an Indian rocket because their 0.5Us would breach this and their aerodynamics wouldn't comply because the satellites were so small and didn't have enough atmospheric drag to bring them down in time. The tracked by radar aspect was resolvable by Leo Labs radars, but not the atmospheric drag component.

FCC subsequently fined them $900k.

[0] https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-363486A1.pdf

[1] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-satellite-fine-idUSKC...

Fascinating, thank you very very much.

There is no legal requirement of that sort that I'm aware of. However, it is recommended that LEO satellites should re-enter the atmosphere within 25 years of mission completion. This is to try and mitigate the ever-growing issue of space junk in LEO.

I couldn't find any legal requirements, but the ESA recommends a reentry withtin 25 years of mission completion to reduce waste in orbit.

https://www.esa.int/Safety_Security/Space_Debris/Mitigating_...

I am aware of this, but it is not legally mandated as GP states.

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