[Johnny555]

I was going to ask a related question -- with prices as low as $50/kg, what's preventing people from launching a bunch of useless sh*t into LEO? Does someone need to approve? Or does that orbit decay so quickly that it's not much of an issue?

[ivalm]

They won’t be launching individual turds, instead it would be a turd cluster with thousands of turds which will decay in orbit at the same time, raining an ultra-hot turd rain which will hopefully evaporate prior to reaching sea-level, instead making clouds slightly turdier.

[zeroxfe]

> with prices as low as $50/kg, what's preventing people from launching a bunch of useless sh*t into LEO?

Demand. The market price for sending stuff to space will be significantly higher, pricing out _almost_ all of the useless shit.

[iguy]

At a few hundred dollars per kg, I bet you could run a business scattering people's ashes. Maybe even at a few thousand. I wonder if they would turn you down?

Edit -- turns out this is a thing, already, I just didn't know. SpaceX apparently does not mind. Flights to the moon are planned.

[xcskier56]

Had to have a recent loss to learn this, but in the funeral home's options package was to send some of the ashes to space for $2500. The director skipped over that page quickly, but it was a picture of a Falcon 9 taking off

[njarboe]

Until Blue Origin is offering similar pricing with their New Glen rocket, I'm sure SpaceX will keep launch costs at a good premium to their costs while using this moat to make money in other areas like the SkyLink project.

[marsokod]

The government of your country will need to approve, since they are covering the damage your turd could make to some other satellite.

Also, you can send the turd alone, you need to attach it to a launcher, and have a deployment mechanism. You are looking at a few thousands $ minimum regardless of the weight.

[criddell]

> they are covering the damage your turd could make to some other satellite

Is that by treaty?