Published March 22, 2019 This content is archived.
An article in IEEE Spectrum quotes John Crassidis, professor of mechanical and aerospace, about SpaceX’s claims to have redesigned its satellites to reduce casualty risks.
Such a re-design, combined with replacing iron, steel and titanium components with less resilient materials like aluminum, could significantly reduce the chance of any fragments reaching the surface, Crassidis says. “But there’s nothing to say that aluminum won’t survive,” he says. “Anything can come through the atmosphere if you hit at just the right angle.”
