Space Debris : A New Habitable Planet Has Brought Adam And His Whole Team Into Space

According to NASA, the amount of pieces of space debris currently orbiting the Earth numbers in the hundred-thousands. This vast array of inoperative man-made objects has accumulated over several decades of space travel and exploration and has come from a variety of sources. The majority of space debris in orbit consists of defunct satellites or fragments left behind from collisions between satellites or explosions that were caused by unused fuel remaining in the tanks of defunct satellites. A fraction of the space debris also comprises of rocket stages and other launch hardware. NASA and the US Department of Defense put in a considerable amount of time and energy into tracking and cataloguing such space debris that orbits the Earth. This begs the question: why is the issue of space debris so important?

No matter how hard we try, the effects of pollution are everywhere. From major catastrophes like the

On October 4th, 1957 the simple action of launching a beachball-sized hunk of metal into our orbit, reshaped the lives of people in the United States and across the world for the next years to come. This small ball of metal was Sputnik, a Soviet satellite with a radio transmitter inside letting out a small “beeping” sound. This object, as unsophisticated as it was, had the power to set the entire country into panic. To US officials this action not only made it clear that the Soviet superpower of Russia was more technologically advanced, but for all we knew they could be putting nuclear warfare into space. To the US this thought was unbearable, and because of this it would go on to set off a race of the century, the Space Race. A race to put technology into space, a race that would change American life at home and in foreign policy. From changes within the school system, to the Red Scare, life would be changed drastically in the years to come, not only in the U.S, but in Russia as well.

As these orbital objects continue to add up, space is growing all the more crowded, and presently, space enthusiasts are becoming increasingly concerned with the junk left by defunct satellites, spent rocket stages, and even small bits of trash leftover from old explosions. In recent years, attention-seeking news media developed a controversy about the topic of space junk, creating a misinformed and panicked populous which distrusts the information provided by space enthusiasts and legitimate space agencies. However, when provided the right information, both sides can agree that space junk is an issue that needs to be handled, but not one that will cause a major

As we have learned in class, asteroids are leftovers from the formation of our solar system about 4.6 billion years ago. This to me is eye opening, because with all of these asteroids floating around in our solar system, very rarely do you hear of an incident where an asteroid hits earth. This could also be because of the gravitational pull in space, which can keep the asteroids away. NASA does a very good job of keeping track of these asteroids, and can keep a close eye on any attack that can be happening. As I will explain later in the future endeavors category, NASA is in the process of using an asteroid as a defense mechanism, and also for reasons of easily

The space debris implies all man-made objects in space and their fragments, which are already defective and will never be able to serve any useful purposes. They include old artificial satellites, the upper stages of space launch vehicles, the fragments of exploded rockets, and so on. All these objects form dense layers around the Earth. In October 1979, the Johnson Space Center in the United States created the first specialized unit for research on space debris category at the initiative of NASA (Nelson 2014). Then, the international community has recognized the growing danger of space debris and the urgent need for measures to prevent its formation. Finally, it created the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (Nelson 2014). It is the most influential organization, which covers the full range of issues associated with space

Every year, the amount of debris orbiting the Earth grows, creating an increasingly hazardous zone for satellites and even astronauts. Although some objects or shrapnel look small, their destructive force is greatly magnified by the hostile conditions of space. According to NASA, pieces as small as softballs can be traveling at an astonishing 17,500 miles per hour. Due to these enormous orbital speeds, any of these objects have the potential to damage or destroy the satellites that we depend on. In fact, even a tiny paint fleck has caused enough damage to the windshields of spacecraft that the windows had to be replaced (Space Debris and Human Spacecraft). In addition to damaged windows, images show that even objects less than half an inch in diameter can puncture through the structure of the space shuttle Endeavour (Trouble in orbit: the growing problem of space junk). The fact that such puny pieces of junk can cause such severe damage upon space shuttles suggests that spacecraft are mere inflated balloons to space due to the high velocities objects are travelling. This only makes situations worse for humans as there is no really protected inside or

Human fascination with the stars is as ancient as Babylonians and has been suggested to be older than Stonehenge. From “be fruitful and multiply” to “live long and prosper,” the instinct to protect and propagate the species has manifested in religion, art, and the imaginations of countless individuals. As human understanding of space treks out of the fantastical and into the scientific, the realities of traveling through and living in space are becoming clearer. Exploring, investigating, and living in space pose an expansive series of problems. However, the solutions to the problems faced by mankind's desire to reach beyond the horizon, through the night sky, and into the stars are solutions that will help in all areas of life on Earth.

The space debris is a serious problem that needs all the countries and organizations that launched or planning to launch to space to get attention with. If people are still despite the serious consequences caused by the space debris and no countermeasure are taken, the exponential growth of debris creates by the collision “would become too hazardous to continue space operation in low Earth orbit” (Whitehouse). In order to decrease the impacts of space debris, national space agencies and organizations need to devising plans or following some guidelines to cleanup the space debris or at least limiting the future space debris. The following paragraphs will explain what is space debris? Where they come from? Why they caused so many problems? Where they cause problems? Also the potential solutions for cleaning the debris.

Pollution has become a prevalent issue worldwide and has begun to affect the air used to breathe, the soil used to grow food, and the water used to drink. All of these effects result in commonly occurring destruction of health and wildlife that one may have seen on the news or heard from peers. In order to live, one needs food, water, clothing, and shelter. If the water and food that society consumes gets contaminated, a major component of life has been eradicated, which can only have negative consequences. If more people are educated as to what effects the environment, the world has a chance to counteract the effects of pollution. The main causes of pollution are the burning of fossil fuels such as with car exhausts, littering as a result of societal norms and laziness, and factory waste as a result of lax waste regulation, and can result in mass destruction of the environment and catastrophic effects on the everyday lives of contemporary people.

Where does this debris come from or how is it formed? Over 50 years, around 6600 satellites have been placed into orbits after more than 4900 were already launched [2]. Today only around 1000 satellites are still in service. The rest are just left in orbits. US Space Surveillance Network tracks more than 23000 space objects orbiting the Earth; some of the objects are about 5 to 10 cm in size in low earth orbit while other ranging measured from 10cm to 1 m are located at geostationary altitudes. All these spotted space objects will be documented by US Space Surveillance Network in their catalogue. Of all the catalogued objects, 6 % are spacecraft and about 30 % are from retired satellites and discarded parts from rocket such as spent upper stages, launch adapter and lens cover. Explosion of rocket bodies is the primary contributor for space debris. This

Due to the large number of space exploration projects, a large belt of debris has formed that can be hazardous to other operational spacecraft. As engineers, we have an ethical responsibility to prevent pollution of Earth’s atmosphere. We have learned a hard lesson on the value of environment from right here on Earth. Trends show that the debris belt circling the Earth will only get bigger, and become more hazardous to spacecraft.

Large debris is defined as any junk larger than 10 centimeters. Encounters with large space debris are not rare events to astronauts working in space. On several notable occasions, large debris has hit or has nearly hit space crafts. The first collision to be clearly identified was in 1996, when the operational Cerise, a French military satellite, collided with a large piece of junk from a disintegrated Ariane rocket (Reichhardt 2009). The impact cut into a 20-foot portion of Cerise’s gravity gradient stabilization boom. The Cerise satellite luckily survived, despite the sustained damage. Moreover, several space crafts have had to perform collision-avoidance maneuvers to escape collision with large space debris. For example, in 2014, debris from the defunct Russian satellite, Cosmos-2251, nearly collided with the International Space Station (Pardini et al. 2017). The International Space Station, however, was able to fire all of its thrusters quickly enough to avoid the collision.

Orbital debris come from a variety of human activity in orbital space. One major source of orbital debris comes from launched rockets and man-made satellites[1]. When a rocket is launched, the upper stage booster that gives a spacecraft its final boost into orbit is often left in orbit[2]. These boosters may stay in orbit for decades and if there is still fuel remaining inside them they may explode and create a cloud of debris[2]. One example was when a Chinese Long March 4 exploded on March 11, 2000 [3]. The payloads of the rocket often contribute greatly to the amount of orbital debris as well. In 2009, two satellites smashed into each other and created a cloud of debris with over a 1,000 pieces longer than 10 centimeters [4]. While collisions between debris do not add to the total mass of debris in orbit, they do add to the number of smaller pieces and increase the chances of further collisions in the future[4]. There were even cases where debris was created from intentional destruction of satellites in order to test anti-satellite weapons[5]. The amount of debris is increasing with human activity in space.

It is a wonder to marvel about how much debris man has created over the span of approximately 50 years. Sadly, this is nothing new on our planet. However, little is known, or at least in regards to public awareness, about the celestial landfill that man has created since the early days of the Space Race involving the Russian launching of Sputnik. Ever since then, the repercussions of the US versus Russia mechanized frenzy have snowballed into an estimated 6,600 satellites being launched, in addition to 1,000 that are still active now.