Humanity has a serious space debris problem.
On the evening of October 24, NASA announced a maneuver to give the International Space Station “an additional measure of distance” from a piece of debris (its size was not given) passing a few miles away. The debris stems from Russia’s dubious decision (according to top space debris experts) to blow up its roughly 4,850-pound Russian Cosmos 1408 satellite in late 2021 with a missile. The explosion created a new ring of debris around the Earth.
“We’re going to see the aftermath of this particular event over the next few decades,” Hugh Lewis, a professor of astronautics at the University of Southampton who studies space debris, told Mashable last year. “It was not a good result. It was never going to be a good result.”
“There was no worse target to aim for with respect to manned spaceflight,” Lewis added.
NASA, whose chief Bill Nelson said he was “outraged by this irresponsible and destabilizing action”, is now grappling with relatively new and problematic space debris.
How the Space Station Got Out of Control and Why It’s a Big Deal
To move the ISS, the space station fired thrusters from the Russian Progress 81 spacecraft (attached to the station) for just over five minutes. NASA flight controllers monitor and direct station activities at ISS Mission Control at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Russia operates its Russian Mission Control Center in Korolev, which is outside of Moscow.
“The thruster firing occurred at 8:25 p.m. EDT and the maneuver had no impact on station operations. Without the maneuver, it was predicted that the fragment could have passed within three miles of the station. “said the US space agency in a statement. statement. The move was called a “pre-determined debris-avoidance maneuver”.
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The editing problem with space junk is that it can create more and more debris. As Mashable previously reported:
The looming problem is that space junk breeds more space junk, especially increasing the chance of collisions. In 2009, for example, Russia’s defunct Cosmos 2251 satellite crashed into an Iridium communications satellite, creating some 2,000 four-inch or larger pieces of debris as well as countless tiny fragments. In 2013, astronaut Chris Hadfield spotted a “bullet hole” in a solar panel on the space station – either from space junk or a small meteorite. Humanity has already put vast amounts of debris into orbit around the Earth, and its impacts are severe and growing. “Spent rockets, satellites and other space junk have accumulated in orbit, increasing the likelihood of collision with other debris,” NASA wrote in 2016.
Over the next three or four decades, if enough debris accumulates, a cascade of collisions will ensue, an extreme event dubbed the “Kessler syndrome” by Don Kessler, a former senior scientist for orbital debris research. at NASA. In 2018, Kessler expressed concern to Mashable about SpaceX’s plans to launch thousands of Starlink satellites into Earth orbit. Already, the private space company has launched more than 1,800 satellites, with plans for thousands more. SpaceX intends to deorbit failed or old satellites in Earth’s atmosphere, but the large number of satellites still means that many objects are circulating around the planet. Among other mega-satellite constellations, Amazon also plans to launch more than 3,200 satellites.
Ideally, derelict satellites and spacecraft are managed to gradually fall through the atmosphere and burn up, in a process called atmospheric drag. NASA and its space partners will continue to fight debris created by the explosion of the Cosmos 1408 satellite.
“This debris field will grow and spread in a ring around Earth that will likely remain in orbit to threaten other space objects for years to come.”
“This debris field will grow and spread in a ring around Earth that will likely remain in orbit threatening other space objects for years to come,” said the Secure World Foundation, an organization that promotes sustainable uses. and peace of space. said in a press release Last year. “Whatever the logic, deliberately creating orbital debris of this magnitude is extremely irresponsible.”
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