How do satellites leave the atmosphere no problem, but burn up when they come back in?

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I just saw a link to an article about the Japanese designing wooden satellites so they burn up on reentry and reduce space junk, and it made me wonder how they get out of the earth’s atmosphere without being destroyed.

In: Physics

6 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Satellites go up in rockets that continue to accelerate after leaving the atmosphere. They are going much faster through the air upon their return than they left at upon launch so the compressive heating is much greater.

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