I’m not so sure that it is.
The mass of a bullet is more like 5 grams, and the mass of a satellite could be around 500,000 kg (the ISS). A quick search shows the the largest commercial communications satellite is Telstar 19V, with a mass of 7,076kg; in my first estimate I guessed 50,000kg. Finally, the closing velocity of two objects in orbit could be up to 22.4 km/s.
rifle bullet: 3×10³ J
Telstar 19V, geostationary orbit: 3.3×10¹⁰ J
Telstar 19V, geostationary transfer orbit: 3.5×10¹¹ J
ISS, LEO: 1.2×10¹³ J
hypothetical fast ISS: 1.1×10¹⁴ J
14−3 gives 11 orders of magnitude, but good luck making the ISS go that fast. Also, don’t forget to add in the kinetic energy of the net; it’s not going to be zero.
Still, even 7 orders of magnitude qualifies as ”quite a few”. You don’t need very many orders of magnitude before you have too many.
The mass of a bullet is more like 5 grams, and the mass of a satellite could be around 500,000 kg (the ISS). A quick search shows the the largest commercial communications satellite is Telstar 19V, with a mass of 7,076kg; in my first estimate I guessed 50,000kg. Finally, the closing velocity of two objects in orbit could be up to 22.4 km/s.
rifle bullet: 3×10³ J
Telstar 19V, geostationary orbit: 3.3×10¹⁰ J
Telstar 19V, geostationary transfer orbit: 3.5×10¹¹ J
ISS, LEO: 1.2×10¹³ J
hypothetical fast ISS: 1.1×10¹⁴ J
14−3 gives 11 orders of magnitude, but good luck making the ISS go that fast. Also, don’t forget to add in the kinetic energy of the net; it’s not going to be zero.
Still, even 7 orders of magnitude qualifies as ”quite a few”. You don’t need very many orders of magnitude before you have too many.