Space junk is surrounding the Earth

There is not much space outside of Earth, and cosmic waste is part of the reason.

In September, a collision between the satellite of the European Space Agency (ESA) and SpaceX almost happened. With a velocity of more than 51,000 km / h, the US Air Force warned both units of the collision, the probability of occurring up to 1 / 1,000. If you've ever seen the movie Gravity, you will understand how thousands of fragments of two satellites sweep through the universe.

Fortunately, the ESA was able to change its satellite orbit and the collision did not occur. According to Digital Trends, this is just one of many possible risks when the universe is too crowded. With millions of objects flying around the Earth at very high speed, the probability of a collision is also very large.

Space junk trap

When a satellite expires, becomes unusable, it will continue its orbit. A boosted rocket, after completing the mission to send the spacecraft to orbit, will also be left in the air. And when two objects in the universe collided with each other and created millions of fragments, they were also left in space.

No one put a ship up and collected debris in the universe. All the materials left by humans so far are called cosmic garbage.

The old satellite and everything left by us will become space junk, besetting us in the future.

The study of space junk only started in the late 1970s. Donald Kessler, a leading scientist who studies the object left on space by NASA, warns that there will be days when the garbage will become too much. that we cannot launch satellites without hitting another object.

Until then, we will be prisoners on our own planet, and know not to blame anyone but humanity.

The satellites of ESA and SpaceX did not collide, but other cases did not have such a happy ending.

In 2009, the two satellites collided at 11,700 m / s and melted into tiny debris, continuing to move in their orbit. One is Russia's Kosmos satellite. Kosmos was no longer in use, and was left in the air. In other words, at that time it was a cosmic junk.

Space debris is surrounding the Earth, leaving us with no space to launch satellites in the future.(Photo: Nikkei).

This collision has startled scientists about the risk of debris left in the universe. According to NASA calculations, when the two satellites collide, they create more than 1,000 debris larger than 10 cm in size, which could continue to threaten the satellites for thousands of years.

The risk of space junk

The first objects that could be encountered from space debris are satellites or spacecraft near Earth, such as the International Space Station (ISS). With an average altitude of about 330km orbit, ISS is located in the height of many cosmic debris. The large size of the ISS also makes it more likely to be hit by debris.

Therefore, ISS is designed to be able to withstand collisions with debris up to 1 cm in size. The ISS management unit must also regularly monitor oncoming risks.

In the movie Gravity, two astronauts almost lost their lives when space junk hit their space station.(Screenshots).

"The space station is the first object to be manipulated in orbit to avoid objects approaching it. The problem is that you cannot predict when a collision will occur, but you can only predict that there is a possibility." something that will fly across orbit, " said Kessler.

In addition to ISS, Hubble satellites and satellites operating in low-Earth orbit also have a high risk of encountering cosmic trash. Even more active satellites in the orbit of the satellite could be stabbed into space junk.

The dense existence of space junk also makes rocket launch increasingly difficult. When launched, the rocket's speed was fast enough to not collide with the cosmic debris that was floating in the air. However, the later the amount of space junk will be more, making rocket launch difficult, more expensive.

"No one has yet given an answer about the state of space junk , " said Mr. Kessler. According to him, this is an important question, to know when the amount of garbage in the universe will be thick enough to not be able to launch rockets again.

The biggest problem in solving space junk is the rule of law. There have been comments about the need for satellites to be taken back to mid-Earth orbit so they can return to the atmosphere and be burned. As such, the responsibility to destroy used flying objects rests with the space management unit.

Netting equipment, "catching" NASA's space garbage.(Photo: NASA).

However, this has not been included in the law, and no company will be penalized for not following. Even if every company followed the destruction rules, the number of satellites destroyed would not be enough to offset the increasing amount of space junk. Each collision can create thousands of new fragments.

Another plan is to remove the 500 largest debris in the universe. According to Kessler, about five large pieces of trash can be removed every year, and over 100 years the amount of waste reduction will help balance the space around the Earth.

Even so, eliminating space junk is not easy. Debris, spacecraft or old rockets often rotate around, there is no place to hook. Some debris are about the size of a school bus.

Another way to reduce space junk is to find ways to extend the life of satellites. Scientists even consider plans to keep space junk, adding hooks to easily retain the satellite when "cleaning" in the air.

Like climate change, cosmic waste is also a global problem and needs the cooperation of many countries. Minimize space waste is a must if we still want to take advantage of telecommunications and GPS technologies.

1. The danger when space junk returns to devastate Earth
2. Mankind has "discharged" how much garbage into space?