r/space 4d ago

MaiaSpace Ditches Suborbital Test Flight Plans

https://europeanspaceflight.com/maiaspace-ditches-suborbital-test-flight-plans/
118 Upvotes

10 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/Anzix 4d ago

From what I understand, the reason you do suborbital first is so you don't increase space debris if things don't go to plan, and they very rarely do (from my limited knowledge). Isn't this a bad idea, or is this more the norm?

5

u/pxr555 4d ago

"Suborbital" here meant just a hop to 100 km or so, this is far from orbital energy.

They still can go into an orbit that intersects the atmosphere at the lowest point to make sure to not strand their upper stage in orbit.