Space debris facts

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Imagine that you are driving a car that is racing without brakes or the ability to turn. Now imagine many other drivers who find themselves in the same conditions. Collision is inevitable, it's only a matter of time.

This is roughly what awaits us, if we do not start the fight against the constantly growing amount of junk floating in orbit of our planet. Here are ten exciting, discouraging and frightening facts about space debris.

Space debris cataloged and tracked

Since the early 1980s, the US Air Force has maintained a dedicated team that records and tracks as much space debris as possible. There are currently over 20,000 individual ball-sized elements and about 500,000 pebble-sized elements - and this number is growing.

Each of these elements orbits the Earth at a speed of 28,000 kilometers per hour. If two of these collide - be it space debris, a "living" satellite, or even the International Space Station - the consequences could be tragic. Even a single grain of paint (too small to track) can significantly damage a spacecraft or kill an astronaut during a spacewalk.

There is an "agreement" to return space debris to Earth

One way to deal with space debris is to send it back to Earth and burn it in the atmosphere upon re-entry. How exactly this will proceed in practice has not yet been fully agreed upon, but is considered a completely viable option for cleaning up debris fields in orbit.

When the landing of WT1190F (the serial number of a certain piece of debris) in the Indian Ocean was predicted - after he had visited almost lunar orbit - it became possible to track and predict the object's movements. Landing WT1190F also allowed scientists to observe the direct entry of the debris into the atmosphere and check the plan of action in case of an emergency.

Space debris forced the ISS to change course three times in 2014

Do not forget that even a slight change in the position of the ISS takes several days to maneuver. In 2014, the International Space Station was forced to reposition three times to avoid a possible catastrophic and fatal collision. More importantly, 2014 was nothing special in terms of such maneuvers. Debris is constantly monitored from Earth and aboard the ISS, so orbital changes are constantly occurring.

However, there are times when debris is noticed too late to move the ISS. In such tense moments, all astronauts sit in hiding.

There is a danger of critical damage to satellites

If a piece of space debris gets into a satellite, it will either be seriously damaged or completely destroyed. But if this happens with several of the most important satellites, it will have a serious impact on life on Earth. Live TV and radio broadcasting, Internet, GPS, mobile communications - all this will be disrupted.

While such violations must certainly be temporary, there is a real and grim likelihood that they could lead to conflict between countries. In an already suspicious world, the innocent act of destroying a satellite by space debris could be mistaken for an attack by another state. During the Cold War, such predictions were taken very seriously and war was constantly on the verge.

Remotely controlled astronaut

The European Space Agency hopes to deploy technology that will make the life of astronauts a little less dangerous in terms of dealing with space debris. A remote-controlled robot named "Justin" can conduct extravehicular activity instead of astronauts, thereby reducing the chances of people colliding with debris.

The robot astronaut will be controlled from ESA's Columbus laboratory by an operator aboard the International Space Station using an exoskeleton glove. Electronic sensors reproduce the sensation of touch, so that the operator will feel everything that Justin touches.

Cubsats can create unnecessary problems

It is known that CubeSats can be thrown into orbit all the time, transported in dozens of them as additional cargo. However, they do not live long and are not particularly manageable. After entering orbit, they also become pieces of space debris, which may well collide with something more useful.

The uncontrollable nature of cubesats is not the only side effect of this product; it is believed that one-fifth of all cubesats actually violate international rules for the disposal of orbiters and, therefore, should not be launched at all. Although there have been no known collisions involving cubsats yet, the rate at which they are being put into orbit is constantly increasing and increasing the likelihood that this will happen in the near future.

Each collision aggravates the problem a hundredfold

Although there have been no collisions with active satellites or spacecraft yet, even space debris that collides with other space debris can pose serious problems. It is said that every collision between space debris increases the problem a hundredfold, as collision turns two pieces into two hundred, and they have to be re-identified and recorded. And the smaller these parts are, the more complicated the situation is.

In fact, this is the main problem for those who want to fight the space debris problem - that dead orbital debris cannot be brought under control. A satellite can be moved, but a piece of debris that plans to collide with another is not.

Space fence project

While the space fence program will not be able to reduce the amount of space debris in orbit, it will allow better tracking of what is already there. The space fence is essentially a digital radar system that deploys a virtual fence around the planet and can track debris up to 10 centimeters using optical sensors and wavelengths of higher frequencies than now.

The ability to track small objects in addition to larger ones will enable scientists to better predict the movements of such objects in the future, and to guide astronauts and satellites more accurately and safer. This is a small step in the right direction: we need to improve our ability to control.

Any solution will require huge financial costs

There are many ideas and theories on how best to deal with space debris, from the feasible to the extremely ambitious. The only thing that unites them is that whatever decision is made, the financial part will be very large. This creates additional pressure on the situation. The mistake will not only cost money, but also cause public outrage.

Speaking about a wide range of ideas for solving this problem, they propose a method, for example, a "harpoon", which can grab large pieces of space debris and drag them to the right place. Another way is to deploy a large "space network" that will collect space debris and put it on a course to be sent to outer space or back to Earth so that it burns up in the atmosphere. It is also suggested to use lasers to "push" objects out of orbit.

Many private companies have also sat down at a round table of proposals to tackle this problem, which is welcome since private companies spend private money.

In a couple of centuries, we will be trapped in space debris

If we do not find a way to stop the constantly growing number of dead artificial objects around our planet, then in a couple of hundred years we will be trapped on Earth. Space missions will become impossible as the likelihood of collision and death will be too high. It is also unknown how the growing amount of space debris may affect the future of the Earth and the planet. For example, if some garbage does not completely burn out and falls on the heads of unfortunate people.

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