_bin_ 3 months ago

Why would Qantas have the implicit right to the airspace first? Space travel and air travel are both value-added human activities. I can't see why we would always prioritize air travel (particularly in very remote locations like this) over space travel.

Most flights will never be impacted this way.

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  • rising-sky 3 months ago

    You're kidding right? This is space debris. If a Qantas flight crashed into your neighborhood, you know who's responsible right?

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    • Denvercoder9 3 months ago

      It's not space debris, it's the deliberate disposal of the upper stage of the rocket precisely to prevent it from becoming space debris. The time and location of re-entry are planned and controlled. This is not going to crash into your neighborhood (except if you're neighborhood is in certain areas of China, where they they happily dump spent rocket stages on populated areas).

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      • lazide 3 months ago

        To be fair, I’m not sure happily describes it. Indifferently? ‘We warned them and they didn’t move, so f them?’ Ly?

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    • IncreasePosts 3 months ago

      Are international waters in the southern Indian ocean Qantas' neighborhood?

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      • sangnoir 3 months ago

        Would you ask the same question if it were Long March rocket debris falling into the Atlantic with very short notices from China?

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      • bmitc 3 months ago

        It's not the waters that's important here. It's the debris passing through the flight path.

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    • wtcactus 2 months ago

      That’s because I own my back yard. Qantas doesn’t own a 3D space in the sky.

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  • axus 3 months ago

    A flight is using a very narrow path, the rocket debris is "claiming" a huge unavoidable areas over probably a relatively long period of time.

    I wonder what the math is on the plane actually getting hit if it took it's normal route.

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    • paranoidrobot 3 months ago

      Something with a lot of significant decimal places that are mostly zeroes.

      Unfortunately "got hit by space debris in designated NOTAM area" looks bad in headlines.

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  • bmitc 3 months ago

    > Space travel ... value-added human activities

    Heavily debatable.

    And you're equating to SpaceX dumping debris and trash in addition to their original flight path to a plane's flight path. Those are not equal things.

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    • wat10000 3 months ago

      Why not? Both are an essential part of the operation.

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  • stevage 3 months ago

    Do you consider launching spy satellites "value added human activities"?

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    • _bin_ 3 months ago

      depends who's doing it. china, for instance, classifies everything they send up as "military" with the ITU to avoid disclosure. the US is a net positive in the world, so our satellites are too.

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      • stevage 3 months ago

        Curious which countries you think are net positives. China?

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        • _bin_ 3 months ago

          china is a tougher one. she has been strongly positive in the past, as well as strongly negative; now she is much closer to negative. net all that i'd say negative overall.

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