Chinas Versuch, einen Starlink-Konkurrenten zu starten, verursacht versehentlich ein Trümmerfeld in der Umlaufbahn

This is where the r/sino bros. enter and explain to you why you’re wrong and that everything is fine. “You are falling for western media imperialism!”

Well at least it’s a good thing they are copying starlink. That means the debris will naturally decay in a few years.

Oh wait, they actually have nothing in common with starlink whatsoever. It is just PR nonsense to make China look more competitive. This is a perfectly standard high altitude constellation, and the debris will stick around for centuries.

A key difference between SpaceX and China is that SpaceX launches the satellites initially into a very low orbit. The satellites then slowly raise their orbit till they are at their operational orbit. China launched directly into the higher operational orbit where their second stage was left. It exploded after deploying the satellites which isn’t uncommon for their second stages.

If a SpaceX second stage exploded its debris are in a very low orbit and will naturally deorbit within months. These Chinese debris will take ages to deorbit.