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  • Matt
  • Member Since Jan 27th, 2008
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Whoops, my error... I was assuming two isotropic antennas. About 5-10 square km of solar panels might be enough.

But still... that's too many.
Um... 1 gigawatt? From geostationary orbit? The free space loss alone is -191dB, which means their satellite will have to be broadcasting at least 10^19 gigawatts of power!! That represents about 3*10^19 SQUARE KILOMETERS of solar arrays.

Has anyone told these guys that it's impossible?

There are several factors that cause an orbit to degrade, the most significant it air drag. The elliptical orbit takes the satellite very close to Earth's atmosphere, so the drag will slowly cause the satellite to spiral down out of orbit. Maintaining an orbit requires a bit of fuel to counteract this effect.

I don't see what all the fuss is about, this is the standard (and ONLY) method for disposal of an Earth-orbiting satellite.
Let the hive mind of Engadget get that for you.
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