“Space debris is a big problem for satellite operations: it poses serious risks to a wide array of satellites critical to society there is more concern and awareness of space-junk issues, and more recognition that atmospheric drag is the major uncertainty in tracking it.” Rockets used to launch spacecraft, and spacecraft that decay or collide while in orbit create space debris that is difficult to remove. Tiny fragments of these spacecraft can puncture satellites and other orbiting assets.
SPACE
DEBRIS AHEAD
More
than 500,000 pieces of debris, or “space junk,” are tracked as they orbit the
Earth. They all travel at speeds up to 17,500 Humans produce an incredible
amount of trash on Earth. In the United States alone, the average person throws
away more than 4 pounds of trash every day. The country as a whole produces 251
million tons of garbage in one year [source: EPA].Because we have our
own issues on the ground with littering and overflowing landfills,
we might not think too much about space junk aside from a few space stations
and a handful of satellites in orbit. But NASA claims there are
potentially millions of objects, both small and large, orbiting Earth in a
giant cloud of junk. Barring anti-satellite (ASAT) tests, leftover spacecraft
that were never deorbited pose the biggest threat as they, and their orbits,
decay over time. Russia has a high number of dead satellites still in orbit
around the planet that could collide with other satellites, creating an innumerable
spike in debris levels. Today, the majority of space debris in orbit was
created from two events: the Iridium33
and Kosmos 2251 satellite collision in 2009 and a Chinese ASAT test in 2007. Based
on current trends, the risk of future collisions still persists.
NASA
and five other members of the Interagency
Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC)
produced six different models of future space debris. Liou said the debris
population at the 1-cm level is approximately 500,000 while, if you go down to
the 1-mm level, the number is estimated to be a staggering 100 million. The
models all predicted that, as is, the debris situation is set to get worse.
“The
results from those six models, they are consistent with each other, meaning
even with no future explosions and the global 90 percent compliance of the
post-mission disposal measures — including the 25-year rule — the debris population
in [Low Earth Orbit] (LEO) is expected to increase in the next 200 yearsThe Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA) is testing a
“cellular” satellite design where small “satlets” can form together to comprise
a satellite. David Barnhart, program manager for DARPA Phoenix said the idea,
The Dangers of Space Junk
The Dangers of Space Junk
Although it's hard to believe, many of these
objects travel around the Earth at speeds more than 22,000 miles an hour.
Anything traveling at a velocity this high would cause a considerable amount of
damage to a spacecraft if a direct hit occurred. Even a tiny fleck of paint
traveling at such a speed is capable of boring a quarter-inch hole into the
window of a space station.
Because there are so many objects flying around up
there, there's concern that collisions between debris will only produce more
fragments. Even if we stopped launching spacecraft right now and didn't send a
single object into orbit, the amount of debris in space would remain constant
until 2055
The good news
most space junk is located between 550 and 625
miles above the Earth -- the International Space Station flies in orbit at 250
miles high, while space shuttles usually only reach 375 miles above Earth.
Space programs are also working on rocket designs that limit the amount of debris
created during a launch.
For those of us on Earth, is there a possibility
space junk could fall back to the ground? Everything in orbit will eventually
be pulled back down by Earth's gravity -- when that happens depends on how high
the object is and how fast it's going. The higher the altitude, the longer the
object will take to fall, and it'll take even longer the faster it's speeding
around the Earth. These objects could stay in orbit for thousands of years. And
the risks of getting hit on the head? Fortunately, most debris burns up during
reentry, and no one has ever been killed by space debris.add your comments below,,,
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