@crypticcelery Objects in low orbits decay quickly (at 500 km within a few years). This is even more true for debris. Once you get to the higher altitudes, the satellites will stay in orbit for hundreds or even thousands of years. So the problem is not the volume (which grows with r^3), but rather the lifetime. If you leave too much stuff up there, it will be circling the Earth for so long that collisions are inevitable.

@sundogplanets
It's also the sort of business that I feel like any state foreign intelligence service ought to be willing to fund. Just in case something they regarded as not being useful to them in space needed to be de-orbited in a responsible and timely manner. I feel like we should try to persuade the band to capitalise on that...

Regardless, astronomers of the world will be willing to give Space Junk Removal Service a listen

https://spacejunkremovalservice.bandcamp.com/album/critically-reclaimed

"Failed Soviet Venus lander Kosmos 482 crashes to Earth after 53 years in orbit" by @Spacecom - Re-entry location still unknown, leading to educated guesses that it fell in the water. In between its last radar contact over Europe and missing the next one, it went over Asia, Indian Ocean, Western Australia, Pacific Ocean, Central America and the Atlantic Ocean. Somewhere in there... https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/failed-soviet-venus-lander-kosmos-482-crashes-to-earth-after-53-years-in-orbit #space #SpaceJunk #Kosmos482

"Soviet Kosmos 482 spacecraft crashes into an unknown site on Earth" by @NBCNews - Its orbit decayed. It re-entered. It's down somewhere. We don't yet know where. No reports of damage, injury or fatalities so far. https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/soviet-kosmos-482-spacecraft-crashes-earth-rcna205579 #space #SpaceJunk #Kosmos482

If a satellite re-entry and sonic boom occurs over the ocean and nobody there is online to post it on #SocialMedia, did it really happen? #space #SpaceJunk #Kosmos482

European Space Agency ESA reports #Kosmos482 did not show up for a projected radar pass and is presumed to have re-entered. Location still unknown. https://blogs.esa.int/rocketscience/2025/05/07/reentry-prediction-soviet-era-venera-venus-lander-cosmos-482-descent-craft/ #space #SpaceJunk #Kosmos482

#Kosmos482 re-entry window estimate by TU Delft (Netherlands) ended at 08:09 UTC. https://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2025/04/kosmos-842-descent-craft-reentry.html #space #SpaceJunk #Kosmos482

Kosmos 482 re-entry windows are starting to close, starting with the US Space Force Combined Space Operations Center (CSpOC) Time of Impact Prediction ended 06:32 UTC. Other forecast windows closing. We can assume it's down or will be momentarily. Reports from unknown sources need to be vetted against plausible time and location along its orbital trajectory where it could have re-entered. If civilians didn't catch it, military satellites did. Wait for reliable news. #space #SpaceJunk #Kosmos482

Keep in mind that web sites which display "live tracking" of satellites are just using mathematical projections which are only meaningful for a stable orbit. They're just plotting a course, not tracking live data. And some people post fake video to get attention. Unless civilians post photos & videos from the right place and time, we'll have to wait until sensitive military satellite data gets cleared for publication. But by the end of the re-entry window, it's down. #space #SpaceJunk #Kosmos482

I'm not seeing reports on Kosmos 482 but it's in the middle of the re-entry window where it's more likely down than still in flight. It could have gone down in an ocean already, where anyone who saw it can't report it quickly. In any case, it can't last long now. #space #SpaceJunk #Kosmos482