Hacker News Reader

Don't they typically dispose of falcon 9 second stages over the Indian Ocean? That would be happening much more often than test flights.

View on HN

Second stage and satellite disposal target is typically Point Nemo in the Pacific Ocean, 2688 kilometers away from the Pitcairn Islands, Easter Islands and Antarctica.

Nobody is flying or sailing at Point Nemo. The keepout zone typically has a massive 1000km diameter, but approximately 0 impact on anybody.

Second stages definitely are getting dropped elsewhere, commonly the southern Indian Ocean, as well. Point Nemo doesn't always or even often line up with the target orbit, and you can't keep second stages in space for extended periods of time, because the propellant needed to deorbit boils off.

> Nobody is flying or sailing at Point Nemo.

It looks like this flight is maybe a bit south of Nemo, but in the relative vicinity.

"Santiago Chile to Sydney AUS, 2-3x a week" [0]

https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/QFA28

0. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42715277

Those probably already have the tight reentry corridor the parent comment requests

I don't think they can get that tight, it's impossible to predict exactly how it's going to break apart.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com