The low-orbit around Earth is becoming cluttered with space garbage:
There are almost 20,000 man-made objects in orbit, ninety-four percent of which are non-functional debris. And that’s not counting the hundreds of thousands of bits of junk too small to track.
This is making it harder to navigate in space and increases the chances of collisions:
There are about nine hundred operational satellites that are in constant danger of smashing into things. And this problem was brutally highlighted in February this year when a derelict Russian spacecraft collided with a working communications satellite, adding about 500 more pieces of garbage to avoid in space.
The danger has been accelerating in recent years, with DARPA estimating that, since January 2007, there’s been a fifty percent increase in cataloged objects. (A good 2,000 of those, mind you, were caused by the Chinese government testing out an anti-satellite missile weapon on a weather satellite in that very month.) With the reality of space tourism drawing ever closer, the need to clean up around the earth has never been more pressing.
Ideas about how to do this have, so far, been less than stellar:
In 1996, NASA proposed “Project Orion”, a concept to zap space debris with lasers from earth. In 2003, the Aerospace Corporation proposed an inflatable set of “space tongs” that could grab and tow objects. And we recently reported on a “space sail” which would sweep rubbish away like a broom.
Anyone have some good ideas?
Tyler!: Sooooo who exactly are they taking our country back from??? And i am in the process of moving so... 
NoYourGod: Yerp – nuthin’ saiz “patriotic” like “love it or leave... 
LawnBoy: Gee.. when exactly was this golden age of pureness in politics and the reign of common sense? 
Daniel Florien: So why aren’t you out in Montana with a bomb shelter, stocked food, and tons of ammunition? 
nazani14: Things that can’t go on forever don’t. Following the record heat, the power outages in the D.C.... 
Nelly: my apologies for using “duplicate” way too many times………..I really wish... 
Ty: Please. A moon hoaxer talking about good science? “I personally do not believe that we can prove that... 
31 Comments
Oh, this is terrible, it’ll probably effect the rapture!
Oh, man, that’s a good point! How’s Jesus gonna find his way through all that? When it says he’s “coming in the clouds,” who knew it was talking about clouds of space junk?
We could pray?
Oh! You meant ideas that actually accomplish something.
We could nuke it, right?
Perhaps its time to invest in one of those deflector thingys from several sci-fi stuff… Unless of course it goes against god’s will. I wouldn’t want to piss people off…………
SENSATIONALISM.
Let’s put it in perspective, there is over 5 billion people on earth, if we got rid of the oceans and blindfolded every person and told 80% to standstill, 10% to walk around randomly and the remaining 10% to travel on fixed paths you would barely have one person hit another person.
Remember the above example is on the surface of the Earth and 5 billion people, now expand that a few miles into space it is like blowing up a balloon the surface becomes substantially bigger, so when you look at an image like above that is not a true representation of what space is like regarding the satellites and other space debris.
Most of the objects are smaller than a human, when was the last time you seen a picture of the space shuttle surrounded by objects like in that image?
There’s also the fact that it orbits at different heights, don’t forget that – it drops the likelihood of collisions still further.
Still bolts and debris flying at thousands of m/s represent a significant danger to spacecraft and man-made satellites. To me the article seems to be more concerned with the rate at which space debris is growing. If one piece hits a satellite it creates 500 new pieces. If we continue to fill up the space over earth with useful objects and junk, the junk can eventually destroy or interfere with the useful stuff we put up there on a regular basis, and the more things that get destroyed the more junk you have to deal with. There may be a saturation point at which space travel becomes near impossible.
To take your example further what if each month you increased the population of earth by 1%, and every time one person did bump into another person you immediately put 500 more people on the earth moving random directions. That is a more accurate representation of the problem at hand. Of course until we have a good model of how much space debris flies out of earths orbit into the solar system and how much renters the atmosphere to be burned up, its all very speculative.
It seems to me to be an issue of simple hedging our bets. Its like pulling weeds on an airport runway, if you intend to continue using the space a certain degree of maintenance will be required.
also keep in mind that even the smallest debris is traveling along at orbital speeds. When they approach another orbiting object from a different angle it can do significant damage. Put a spacewalker out on the ISS fixing something and that can pose a real danger.
I’ve seen all the orbiters up close after a mission and the windshields have tiny dings in them. Fortunately, they’re relatively harmless. But if tiny debris can do that, imagine what small hardware could od
If I bump into another person in your analogy, that’s the worst thing that can happen — we bump into each other.
If a space shuttle runs into space debris, people could die, we could lose the spacecraft, etc., etc.
There’s also extrapolation. The more we send up there, the more cluttered it eventually gets.
You do realize that you’re using the very same logic that people who deny that we should be at least concerned about overpopulation use, right?
Steven Webb is for the most part right. The “big sky” theory holds quite true for space. Although, since objects up there are moving at some rather terriffic speeds, any of the potential collisions are generally quite spectacular, and much less survivable than two people bumping into each other at walking speeds. I think it would be a good idea to clean up our act on earth as well as in space.
We are such messy creatures, aren’t we?
I agree no harm in cleaning it up, just the same as no harm in recycling even if you do not agree with global warming.
Yes I considered the speed, I did choose not to mention that because you are right.
On the other hand spaces three-dimensional, my example is not, as people on earth would be walking around on a flat surface, in space you have layers.
Also on my third hand the majority of objects are stationary, the other objects do not change direction so it does make the objects substantially more predictable than for example cars!
Anyone else misread the NASA effort as “project Onion”?
Yep. Spent a while trying to figure out why, too: Layers? Makes you cry? Tastes good in spaghetti sauce?
The actual name for what this article is talking about it the Kessler Syndrome.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome
Related: gravely tell your friends that you have Kessler Syndrome, then watch their reaction when they look it up on Wiki.
Too much space garbage? Sounds like it’s time to send in Adam Quark!
…. Sorry, couldn’t resist … !
Or Roger Wilco!
I was about to suggest the crew of the DS-12 Toy Box myself.
PsiCop for the win.
What about that giant space-maid/vacuum-cleaner thingie from Spaceballs?
Oh, hey – “vacuum cleaner” would be exactly what we needed.
Boooo…
I propose that we all start drinking at 10:A.M. and laying around the house watching soap operas in our bathrobes.
When Jesus comes back and starts yelling, “Hey! Why don’t you get up off of your lazy drunk asses and clean this pig sty up!!?” – Then we could say, “Oh Yeah? Well where in the fuck have YOU been while we were trying to figure out if we were even gonna HAVE a place to live a few centuries from now?”
Then Jesus would be all ..” Oh yeah right, blame ME. I sacrificed my ass on the fuckin’ cross and THIS is what I come back to; a big fat ingrate who can’t find anything better to do at 10 o’clock in the god damn morning than suck down twinkies and Old Milwakee…..”
Then we could be all..”YOU DON’T LOVE ME !!! YOU NEVER LOVED ME…it was always about YOU!!…YOU!!! YOU!!!…”
Then Jesus would be all ..”OK FUCK IT….I’m outta here!!!!!!!!”
Then we’d be……all …..like…….”Fine!”
Then he’d be like ..”Fine to infinity”
..followed by crying and bitter apologies from both sides…..
Once things cooled down, we’d have make up sex and He would spend all day Saturday cleaning up the outer orbit and we’d go to an AA meeting…….
You write episodes for Sunset Beach, don’t you?
Yeah, but, no time for questions. START DRINKING ….half of the morning is already gone!
Hire some space garbagemen
Wait 50 years. Most of the junk will have fallen into Earth’s atmosphere by then. All we have to do in the meantime is to not add any more junk, though that’s probably unrealistic.
I’m reminded of a Ken MacLeod novel (Sky Road, I think), where future Earth is encircled by a band of thousands of habitats and other space modules. This means that if some of these modules were to be destroyed it can lead to a cascading effect, destroying practically everything in orbit and preventing orbital launch from Earth’s surface. Never the less, a few private contractors are equipped with nukes in order to guarantee that all parties play nice. The mutually assured destruction is intended as a stabilizing factor, Cold War style.
We humans just can’t go anywhere without making a mess, can we?
Perhaps a large vacume? (a friend suggested this and I just laughed and laughed).
Most of it’s metal right? Send out a few really powerful magnets on a round-three-times-then-burn-up-in-atmosphere orbits.
Maybe it is a message from god.
Maybe the face of jezus will appear in the sky by the reflection of the satellites.