Drag Sometimes Effective in Collision Avoidance: Planet Labs

Differential drag could be an effective collision avoidance technique for satellites, though its efficacy in causing orbit changes depends on such things as the operating altitude and space weather conditions, Planet Labs said in a 10-page cubesat study filed Friday in docket 18-313. It said at 400 km, differential drag is comparable to a low-thrust propulsion system. At 500 km, it is less effective, though it can still produce position changes.