The Boeing-made Intelsat 33e satellite broke apart in orbit over the weekend. But company representatives don’t yet know why.
The Boeing-made Intelsat 33e satellite broke apart in orbit over the weekend. But company representatives don’t yet know why.
I really hope it just broke apart… because the alternative is that somebody has an anti-satellite weapon that is fairly discreet (not as obvious as a missile fired from the ground) and that they’re willing to actively use.
Occam’s Razor - micrometeorite or space debris
Or just plain structural failure due to a design or manufacturing defect.
Could also be the massive amount of space debris ripped it a new one
Yeah, there’s lots of stuff in orbit, and these are just the objects large enough to be tracked by radar. An impact from a small, fast-moving object is a completely rational explanation.
Space lasers are real!!
I remember watching a Tech Ingredients video where I think they did the math on space lasers, I think the conclusion was that it would be technically possible to significantly impact local earth surface temperature with one. (Might’ve been a degree or two extra for 10km² or something like that, with a huge satellite, maybe around the size of Hubble, or bigger.)
Of course, there’s no reason to believe some politicians’ insane ramblings about “Jewish Space Lasers”.
Edit, found the video: https://youtu.be/-MVs37rxJL0?si=4Ztwq-FyOiB0uZqI
If the topic seems insane, the caveat at 31:50 should probably correct the tone. This man doesn’t actually believe space lasers were used to start a big grass fire.
Also, I remembered all the numbers very wrong.