# Is anybody in charge of keeping satellites from colliding? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [December 26, 2008, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anybody-in-charge-of-keeping-satellites-from-colliding/478773 "2008-12-26T20:35:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2008, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anybody-in-charge-of-keeping-satellites-from-colliding/478773/21 "2008-12-28T07:42:26Z")
So if I had the money (and it wouldn’t be _too_ much) and the will, I could send debris in a counter-geostationary orbit and kill not only every damn DirecTV satellite, but the GPS system and any other junk that thinks it can just hang above the earth contrary to all that’s holy. And permanently destroy the geostatationary orbit… forever. Even render space elevators useless. Holy shit. Think of the powah ---
**Author:** ![Todderbob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@Todderbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Todderbob)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2008, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anybody-in-charge-of-keeping-satellites-from-colliding/478773/22 "2008-12-28T08:08:35Z")
> [@Alex\_Dubinsky](#): > > So if I had the money (and it wouldn’t be _too_ much) and the will, I could send debris in a counter-geostationary orbit and kill not only every damn DirecTV satellite, but the GPS system and any other junk that thinks it can just hang above the earth contrary to all that’s holy. And permanently destroy the geostatationary orbit… forever. Even render space elevators useless. > > Holy shit. Think of the powah Theoretically, but it would be massively complicated. If you wanted to do it, though, you’d be best off trying to get something into a Geostationary orbital path at slightly faster than geostationary speed (and in a slightly elliptical orbit) that, after it was in place blew up kind of like a number 8 shot shotgun shell. Hundreds of thousands (even millions) of tiny pellets. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2008, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anybody-in-charge-of-keeping-satellites-from-colliding/478773/23 "2008-12-28T22:49:55Z")
[QUOTE=Trocisp] This, I was aware of. However, I’m not a fan (at all) of “Parking Orbit.” I think it’s simply putting the problem off for another day. [/QUOTE] Probably. Welcome to the human condition. > [@](#): > > Originally Posted by **Stranger On A Train** > If communication and control is lost with the spacecraft, or if the space launch vehicle fails to place it in a functional orbit (as happened with the satellite that was shot down earlier this year) then an extra ten or twenty pounds of compressed air propellant isn’t going to make much difference one way or another. [QUOTE=Trocisp] Unless the Satellite is in an uncontrolled spin, it seems to me that a fail safe could be built into it, so that the entire thing could, automatically, re-enter earths atmosphere over \. However, there would probably be the increased associated risk that this would go off accidentally, and that would be bad… [/quote] Doesn’t work that simply. The amount of thrust required to direct the satellite depends upon the location and direction and speed of the satellite upon failure. The dynamics of finding “safe place here” is more complicated than pointing at the middle of the Pacific ocean. Orbital dynamics behave funny. And you’re relying on your system working after _a failure_. So what failed to cause the need for reentry? The propulsion system that you want to rely upon for the safety manuever? That is not the kind of problem that lends itself to installing a simple automated system. _All_ of them? If it was just saber rattling, **any** debris that didn’t reenter earth’s orbit are (in my opinion) irresponsibly fired projectiles in a currently uncrowded, but potentially (in the future) crowded room. Fair enough, you’re certainly entitled to your opinion. Doesn’t mean others don’t feel the benefits of other actions outweigh the minimal future dangers. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2008, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anybody-in-charge-of-keeping-satellites-from-colliding/478773/24 "2008-12-28T23:42:50Z")
> [@Trocisp](#): > > It was political strutting most of all, and it was, quite frankly, reckless. Is your opinion the same of the Chinese action? If not, why not? ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anybody-in-charge-of-keeping-satellites-from-colliding/478773/25 "2008-12-29T00:13:34Z")
> [@Trocisp](#): > > you’d be best off trying to get something into a Geostationary orbital path at slightly faster than geostationary speed (and in a slightly elliptical orbit) No, no. You can launch into the goestationary orbit, but in the opposite direction from the way the earth is spinning. This way you’re not “slightly faster and eliptical,” you are twenty times the speed of sound and perfectly on target. If you launch 10 tons of 1-gram bullets, you have ten million fragments doing a full sweep every 12 hours. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Todderbob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@Todderbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Todderbob)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anybody-in-charge-of-keeping-satellites-from-colliding/478773/26 "2008-12-29T02:35:31Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > Is your opinion the same of the Chinese action? If not, why not? My opinion is far lower of the Chinese action than the US action. > [@Trocisp](#): > > The simplest solution is to stop sending missiles into orbit to blow up defunct satellites (I’m looking at you US and _ **China** _!) and for us to clean up after ourselves. The Chinese action just wasn’t elaborated on in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Ed\_Zotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ed\_Zotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_Zotti)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anybody-in-charge-of-keeping-satellites-from-colliding/478773/27 "2009-01-05T18:28:45Z")
> [@Trocisp](#): > > [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2833/is-anybody-in-charge-of-keeping-satellites-from-collidingNot](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2833/is-anybody-in-charge-of-keeping-satellites-from-collidingNot) that the article was incomplete, but I was expecting at least a passing reference to [Kessler Syndrome](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_Syndrome). On review the Master agrees he should have included a mention of Kessler syndrome and the column has been amended to include it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anybody-in-charge-of-keeping-satellites-from-colliding/478773.md?page=1)