Although the dispersed needles in the second experiment removed themselves from orbit within a few years, some of the dipoles that had not deployed correctly remained in clumps, contributing a small amount of the orbital debris tracked by NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office. Their numbers have been diminishing over time as they occasionally re-enter. As of April 2023, 44 clumps of needles larger than 10 cm were still known to be in orbit.
They're still up there. If they somehow survived re-entry, they could hit you. You could be innocently looking up and all of a sudden - copper needle from space, right in the eye.
I don’t know if they could descend from MEO into the atmosphere and not eventually vaporize from heat ablation before slowing enough to re-enter. Copper ain’t gonna withstand those temps.
Even if they did, the chance of one of them landing on someone's eye is so astronomically low as to be functionally 0% - but that's not the point! The point is to jokingly play into someone's unreasonable fear of orbital copper needles! Work with me here.
What surprises me the most is that objects in medium earth orbit (no atmospheric drag) re-entered within 3 years, only from the pressure of the sun's radiation.
18 Comments
whyNotSquirrel@sh.itjust.works · 24 pts · 214d
I really don't like this, and not for the rational reasons
I keep picturing them in my eyes and nose (weird wired brain)
KoboldCoterie@pawb.social · 46 pts · 214d
They're still up there. If they somehow survived re-entry, they could hit you. You could be innocently looking up and all of a sudden - copper needle from space, right in the eye.
TwodogsFighting@lemdro.id · 26 pts · 214d
! My one weakness.
CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 213d
I was two days away from retirement!
TheDoctorDonna@piefed.ca · 13 pts · 214d
Better than a toilet seat.
4am@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 214d
I don’t know if they could descend from MEO into the atmosphere and not eventually vaporize from heat ablation before slowing enough to re-enter. Copper ain’t gonna withstand those temps.
KoboldCoterie@pawb.social · 9 pts · 214d
Even if they did, the chance of one of them landing on someone's eye is so astronomically low as to be functionally 0% - but that's not the point! The point is to jokingly play into someone's unreasonable fear of orbital copper needles! Work with me here.
MyMotherIsAHamster@lemmy.ca · 20 pts · 214d
That's wild, I had never heard of this.
xylogx@lemmy.world · 33 pts · 214d
They created an artificial ionosphere and were able to successfully bounce radio comms off it. Totally wild.
mech@feddit.org · 19 pts · 214d
What surprises me the most is that objects in medium earth orbit (no atmospheric drag) re-entered within 3 years, only from the pressure of the sun's radiation.
Dionysus@leminal.space · 9 pts · 214d
Yeah, that's what makes the concept of a solar sail so neat. Eventually hitting near light speed doing that.
subignition@fedia.io · 0 pts · 214d
The Sun is an angry laser
And with enough laser you can push
Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io · 2 pts · 213d
Yes, well, except for the "laser" part. And also the part about angry; one needn't anthropomorphize a natural phenomenon. The Sun is.
subignition@fedia.io · 2 pts · 212d
this response is the wurtzt
Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io · 1 pts · 212d
Assassassin@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 15 pts · 214d
Well, did they hit it?
DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social · 5 pts · 214d
99.9% accuracy
Don't ask about the .1% or else
jaselle@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 213d
I'm not sure they actually shot that many before cancelling the project
Quilotoa@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 213d
Yeah, I couldn't see in the article how many went up. I seem to have read somewhere it was in the hundreds of millions.