Objects Launched Into Outer Space \ stacker news ~charts

581 sats \ 13 comments \ @kr 13 Mar charts

I got curious about space launches recently and found some data on the total number of objects that were launched into space in a given year.

Pretty incredible to see how flat this chart was for 50 years, before exploding upwards in the last decade.

Any predictions on how many objects humans will be launching into outer space in the next decade?

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207 sats \ 4 replies \ @Undisciplined 13 Mar

There's a fascinating hypothesis that civilizations become planet-bound by creating too much orbital debris to safely get off planet.

25 sats \ 3 replies \ @kr OP 13 Mar

interesting.

i believe the majority of these objects are launched into low-earth orbit, and once they’ve surpassed their useful life they simply burn up in the atmosphere.

however, there is a space debris problem too, just not from the majority of object launches.

138 sats \ 2 replies \ @Undisciplined 13 Mar

I think the idea is that whenever there are collisions or small meteor impacts that ejects a bunch of small debris into random orbits. After enough time, there's just too much for safe transit.

25 sats \ 1 reply \ @kr OP 13 Mar

has anyone had any success cleaning up debris?

i’m thinking something like the ocean cleanup nets that are picking up plastics

138 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 13 Mar

Not yet, but it's also not a big problem yet. I know there are ideas to launch chunks of magnetic materials into orbit that will sort of vacuum up a bunch of metallic debris over time.

There's not much you can do about non-magnetic debris though.

207 sats \ 6 replies \ @0xbitcoiner 13 Mar

A new report predicts that around 20,000 new satellites will launch by the end of the decade — a more conservative forecast compared to other sky-high projections.

https://spacenews.com/industry-report-demand-for-satellites-is-rising-but-not-skyrocketing/

🔗 visualcapitalist.com

64 sats \ 5 replies \ @kr OP 13 Mar

cool chart, what use case do you think the next 20,000 satellite launches will serve?

70 sats \ 4 replies \ @0xbitcoiner 13 Mar

My perception is that the vast majority will be for internet provision, but military satellites could also have a good share.

64 sats \ 3 replies \ @kr OP 13 Mar

at a certain point though, won’t we have enough satellites for internet coverage?

why the need for 10x more satellite launches when we already have a starlink constellation?

138 sats \ 2 replies \ @0xbitcoiner 13 Mar

That's a fair point. There is strong market competition, and other companies (and countries) will also want to have their own satellite internet networks.

64 sats \ 1 reply \ @kr OP 13 Mar

yeah i could see a few more competitors pop up, but i don’t see the internet or earth observation use cases scaling the number of launches exponentially.

i’m receptive to the idea that we do get far more launches in the next decade, just not sure what the use cases might be

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @0xbitcoiner 13 Mar

I agree. In the article I shared earlier, it says:

Satellite demand also is fueled by government constellations like the U.S. Space Force’s Space Development Agency Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture and Europe’s IRIS2.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Coinsreporter 15 Mar

I won't be surprised if the number reaches to 10k.