“Why can’t we predict it better? Partly because of the headwind is causing it to spiral in, the Earth’s upper atmosphere has weather – even hundreds of miles up. Solar activity affects its density.”
Another great video of the Falcon 9 #Starlink (it failed to complete a de-orbit burn, hence the exciting light show) as it made re-entry over the Pacific Northwest tonight. Nice that we cleared out tonight, or we would've missed it!#SpaceDebris #SpaceJunk #WAwx https://t.co/iFAAcBykmf
— Shannon O'Donnell (@ShannonODKOMO) March 26, 2021
So far this year, there have been 14 pieces of “space junk” of 1-ton or larger, which have re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere. Most of the time they go unnoticed because it’s daytime or they show up over an ocean.
Space is busier than ever before. In the last three years, SpaceX has set aggressive launch schedules and activity is only going to increase. There are currently almost 4,000 satellites in-service. Three years ago there were only 1,000.
Don’t be surprised if you see some space junk falling in your area soon!
