Thread

New Satellite Engine Could Use Earth's Atmosphere to Stay in Orbit Indefinitely

68 points · 15 comments · GordonS

chris_va · 1790439126 · focus · HN ↗
Very much not a new idea: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_low_Earth_orbit" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_low_Earth_orbit
Though fun to see. More interesting than the station keeping (indefinite part) is that it enables ~100km orbits, which are ~5x closer than what remote sensing satellites use today and thus could get 5x the resolution for the same instrument.
1. idiotsecant · 1790447366 · focus · HN ↗
  An Alcubierre drive is not a new idea either, but if someone demonstrated one I would be mightily impressed.
  That is an extreme example for multiple reasons, of course, but the point is that the gulf between idea and working thing is often monstrous. Ideas are cheap, implementation is hard.

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