Thousands of satellites on Earth orbit can crash into each other

Thousands of future telescopes launched into Earth's orbit will lead to collisions and accumulation of garbage in space.

The cost of satellite production is declining, which could lead to the launch of hundreds or thousands of new satellites in the near future, according to Mirror. This created a rapid increase in the number of satellites operating on Earth's orbit compared to 1,300 satellites today.

Satellites orbit around the Earth.(Photo: AP).

Hugh Lewis, senior lecturer in aerospace engineering at the University of Southampton, UK, runs a computer simulation to assess the consequences of increasing satellite traffic in orbit. The results show that the number of catastrophic collisions between satellites can increase by 50%. This is a study funded by the European Space Agency (ESA).

Lewis said that these collisions increase the amount of space junk in orbit, leading to the possibility of subsequent collisions, affecting the services provided by the satellite.

"There has been a change in the satellite production model. The cost of creating a single telecommunications satellite costs hundreds of millions of dollars, but mass-produced satellites are much cheaper. The number of satellites is launched. "In the coming years, it will be unprecedentedly large. They have a significant impact on the spatial environment by increasing the impact rate , " Lewis said.

In the study, Lewis also provided a series of instructions to help prevent possible collisions, including reducing the time of low orbiting satellites after the end of the task, making the satellite smaller and lighter, add propulsion system and deploy tasks to eliminate satellite errors.