Can someone explain to me how you lose (and then find) a satellite?
Patience. It will be a while before the greens start complaining
about the satellites and space junk blocking the sun, reducing solar
insolation, and eventually causing global cooling.
That is not so much the issue as it is pretty hard these days to put anything into close orbit without it running into some pile of debris or other. And then, there is the matter of 'getting through' to higher orbits as well. A couple of grams of whateveritis passing through a satellite at some significant speed somewhere at/around 40,000 kph will do some damage. Perhaps just enough to damage the tracking programming. Satellites are not built for toughness, they are not armored, and gravity is not their friend.
Keeping in mind that the radio system on the Apollo Lander was no more than a few watts, and was tracked continuously from earth, tracking something much closer with far more power behind it should be pretty straightforward. Except that it isn't. The Verizon truck is not an hour away.
That Jimmy Neutron does not 'get' that is yet another example of its essential lack of value. And why engaging with it is akin to micturating in a vertical direction along a braided convenience.
Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA
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