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What if every satellite suddenly disappeared? - Moriba Jah

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  • 7,358 Questions Answered
  • TEDEd Animation

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What would happen if one day all of humanity’s artificial satellites suddenly disappeared? Within hours, most of the planet’s traffic would grind to a halt, the world economy would shut down, and most countries would declare a state of emergency. Even in the best-case scenario, our civilization would be set back by decades. So, what are the odds of this actually happening? Moriba Jah investigates.


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About TED-Ed Animations

TED-Ed Animations feature the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators. Are you an educator or animator interested in creating a TED-Ed Animation? Nominate yourself here »

Meet The Creators

  • Educator Moriba Jah
  • Director Darvideo Animation Studio
  • Narrator Addison Anderson
  • Storyboard Artist Helen Pashynskih
  • Animator Igor Kostin
  • Sound Designer GSVP Sound Design
  • Director of Production Gerta Xhelo
  • Editorial Director Alex Rosenthal
  • Producer Bethany Cutmore-Scott
  • Script Editor Alex Gendler
  • Fact-Checker Eden Girma
Additional Resources for you to Explore
We are interested in making space safer, more secure, and sustainable long-term. This can include doing such things as helping space operators avoid collisions in space, monitoring behaviors and activities in space, and developing a body of evidence to hold entities accountable. Quantifying the carrying capacity of orbital space and managing this capacity under a global governance are also important aspects of this objective. Our work can greatly aid this by measurably making space more transparent and predictable.

Customize this lesson

Create and share a new lesson based on this one.

About TED-Ed Animations

TED-Ed Animations feature the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators. Are you an educator or animator interested in creating a TED-Ed Animation? Nominate yourself here »

Meet The Creators

  • Educator Moriba Jah
  • Director Darvideo Animation Studio
  • Narrator Addison Anderson
  • Storyboard Artist Helen Pashynskih
  • Animator Igor Kostin
  • Sound Designer GSVP Sound Design
  • Director of Production Gerta Xhelo
  • Editorial Director Alex Rosenthal
  • Producer Bethany Cutmore-Scott
  • Script Editor Alex Gendler
  • Fact-Checker Eden Girma

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