Space Junk Dangers
By tony leather, 23rd Jul 2012 | Follow this author
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Posted in WikinutNewsScience
All of this junk is moving at high speed – 17,500 mph, and must eventually fall to earth, drawn by gravity. Whilst much of it will burn up on entry, larger debris items could pose serious impact threats.
Space Junk Dangers
The space around our planet is, believe it or not, a junk-yard with over half a million known items, from 1.5cm to over 10cms in diameter, most of it constantly monitored by the Space Surveillance Network of the USA, everything from defunct satellites like Galaxy 15 to spent stages of booster rockets, and much more.
All of this junk is moving at high speed – 17,500 mph, and must eventually fall to earth, drawn by gravity. Whilst much of it will burn up on entry, larger debris items could pose serious impact threats. Not only that, but the problem of damage caused to spacecraft flying through this debris cloud is very real.
In 2010 there was a serious crash in space when the Iridium Communication Satellite was struck by defunct Russian craft Cosmos 2251, resulting in a huge cloud of flotsam, similar to that caused in 2007 when China intentionally blew up a weather satellite, simply compounding by a big margin the space-junk that has been massing for half a century.
Trouble is that this vast conglomeration of rubbish is posing an ever greater threat, both in environmental and spacecraft terms, some scientists convinced that this century will see things coming to a head if action is not taken soon, perhaps in the form of sending vehicles up into orbit that have been designed and built specifically to collect space debris as they orbit the planet.
J.C. Liou, from Nasa Space Center Orbityal Debris Program Office, believes that without more aggressive action on ADR – active debris removal - the problems could be very bad indeed. What is needed, he feels, is a first-things-first approach, being more specific and focusing on the key problems, as spending many millions of dollars to remove debris without benefiting the environment would be pointless.
Liou pointed out the recently released, June 2010, White House National Space Policy document, which calls upon US defense Department and NASA to look into ways of removing debris in orbit now, reducing dangers and increasing human understanding ot the orbital debris environment, now and in the future. The key to sweeping the near-space earth orbit clear will be international co-operation, space nations working together to address the problems.
With the rise in interest in space tourism, and the possibilities of holidays in space within the next century, the chance of having your space adventure curtailed with chilling finality, by a stray piece of satellite that bursts through the skin of the craft you are in, is all too real, and there needs to be some serious research done to deal with the space-junk issue before it gets completely out of hand, putting back the space program for who knows how long. Positive action needs to be a priority, for the sake of future safety in space.
JunkB
Trouble is that this vast conglomeration of rubbish is posing an ever greater threat, both in environmental and spacecraft terms, some scientists convinced that this century will see things coming to a head if action is not taken soon, perhaps in the form of sending vehicles up into orbit that have been designed and built specifically to collect space debris as they orbit the planet.
J.C. Liou, from Nasa Space Center Orbityal Debris Program Office, believes that without more aggressive action on ADR – active debris removal - the problems could be very bad indeed. What is needed, he feels, is a first-things-first approach, being more specific and focusing on the key problems, as spending many millions of dollars to remove debris without benefiting the environment would be pointless.
JunkC
Liou pointed out the recently released, June 2010, White House National Space Policy document, which calls upon US defense Department and NASA to look into ways of removing debris in orbit now, reducing dangers and increasing human understanding ot the orbital debris environment, now and in the future. The key to sweeping the near-space earth orbit clear will be international co-operation, space nations working together to address the problems.
With the rise in interest in space tourism, and the possibilities of holidays in space within the next century, the chance of having your space adventure curtailed with chilling finality, by a stray piece of satellite that bursts through the skin of the craft you are in, is all too real, and there needs to be some serious research done to deal with the space-junk issue before it gets completely out of hand, putting back the space program for who knows how long. Positive action needs to be a priority, for the sake of future safety in space.
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