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After an age of highly developed technology, including many different satellites in various Earth orbits, humanity loses the technology needed to control those satellites. After many centuries, how...
#2: Post edited
by
Canina
·
2020-11-19T20:24:18Z (about 4 years ago)
Everything on Scientific Speculation should be based in science, by definition
#1: Initial revision
by
celtschk
·
2020-11-17T18:11:34Z (about 4 years ago)
Is it realistic to see satellites moving across the sky centuries after humans stopped space activity?
After an age of highly developed technology, including many different satellites in various Earth orbits, humanity loses the technology needed to control those satellites. After many centuries, how realistic is it that you can still occasionally see a satellite moving across the sky (say, at least one every few days)? And if so, how bright would they probably be, and how fast would they be seen moving across the sky? I'm sure the low-orbit satellites would be long gone because there's still air drag. But I have no idea on how high you have to go to have a satellite survive on its orbit for hundreds of years without active orbit corrections. Also, I guess you'd also have to avoid a Kessler syndrome, as that would effectively remove the satellites as individual bright spots in the sky.