Those d@mn unions are everywhere now!Satellites operate in a terrible radiation environment so there is no need to bring most down except for manned flights or specialty experiments. The Sun is a huge nuclear fusion reaction. There are even worse cosmic rays from deep space that are travelling near the speed of light and have huge energy levels. All of this damages the internal atomic bonds of semiconductors and they usually fail in less than 20 years. The geosynchronous orbit ring is the most hotly contested for positions or “slots”. The International Tecommunications Union (ITU) has control over the satellite slots and frequencies and requires geo satellites to have fuel and motors to get out of the GEO slot at end of life.
Wonder what technologies are planned to bring down all the garbage we’ve thrown up into orbit. Even the smallest object could do untold damage to some useful vehicle considering the amazing speeds at which everything is traveling up there.
Those d@mn unions are everywhere now!