Pieces of unwanted debris left behind by humans in low Earth orbit have become the equivalent of a “ new plastic floating island ” in space, an expert has warned.
Scientific models estimate that there are more than 128 million pieces of space debris larger than 1 mm and 34,000 pieces larger than 10 cm.
These range from old missile parts to chips of paint that have broken down satellites
Now Ekaterini Kavvada, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Defense Industry and Space, has warned that this space junk is “not a theoretical threat, but a reality” – similar to the threat posed by floating plastic islands in Earth’s oceans.
She added that the debris could damage active European and other satellites, adding that if we don’t respond in a safe and timely manner, the consequences will be ‘damaging’.
Pieces of unwanted debris left behind by humans in low Earth orbit have become the equivalent of a ‘new floating island of plastic’ in space, an expert has warned (artist’s impression)
Speaking at the 13th European Space Conference, Ms. Kavvada said: ‘Around space junk, the new floating island of plastic has become – if I were to make the comparison – that poses an imminent threat to the safety and security of all traffic and space. durability. ‘
Fragments of space debris as small as 1 cm have the potential to completely destroy satellites due to the speed at which they travel.
Artificial satellites are used in communications, such as satellite television and telephone calls, and navigation, including the Global Positioning System (GPS).
These types of spacecraft also play a role in weather forecasting, storm and pollution tracking, and astronomy.
Ms Kavvada said there have been more than 5,000 satellites in space as of January 2019, but only 2,000 are still active.
She said, “Hopefully – and that’s why we cross our fingers every day – maybe those satellites can deorbitate and usually burn up in the atmosphere when their useful life is over.”
However, Ms. Kavvada warned that nearly 3,000 inactive satellites are still drifting in space, and recent data suggests that there have been more than 500 disintegration or explosions of these space objects resulting in fragmentation.
She said adding webs of network satellites, known as mega constellations, to space could result in Kessler syndrome – a chain reaction in which more and more objects collide with each other to create new space debris to the point where the orbit of the earth became useless.
Mrs. Kavvada said, “This already sounds like a disaster ahead.”
Rolf Densing, director of operations at the European Space Agency, who also spoke at the space conference, said: “ We live in a time when mega-constellations are being built and the population of objects in orbit around us is growing by the thousands every year.
So now we have about 1,000 Starlink satellites in orbit.
“By the end of the decade, we’re talking about tens of thousands of satellites orbiting us.”
Mr Densing said ESA’s European Space Operations Center (ESOC) is receiving “hundreds of collision warnings” on a fleet of about 20 satellites that the agency operates.
He said, “On average, we will have to fly the collision avoidance maneuver about every two weeks.”
Ms. Kavvada said limiting space debris production, avoiding the generation of new debris, and developing tools to remove current space debris are necessary to “ensure long-term sustainable use of space.”
She said: “ Even in a theoretical scenario where no more objects are added to space, the results of simulations from ESA and NASA show that the critical density reached in LEO (low Earth orbit) is such that only mitigation is possible. is no longer sufficient. ‘
There are an estimated 170 million pieces of so-called ‘space junk’, but only 22,000 are tracked (artist’s impression)
Ms. Kavvada added: “So today, if we don’t respond in a safe and timely manner … the consequences will be damaging.”
Last year, the UK government awarded seven private companies £ 1 million to help detect space debris as part of its space surveillance and tracking (SST) program.
The UK will also play a critical role in the construction of The Claw, the first satellite to remove space junk.
As part of the ESA’s Clearspace-1 mission, scheduled for 2025, The Claw will use a pincer motion to collect debris before giving a controlled reentry to Earth’s atmosphere, allowing it to be safe and away from life. dissolve.
WHAT IS SPACE JUNK? MORE THAN 170 MILLION PIECES OF DEAD SATELLITES, DISPOSED MISSILES AND PAINT FLAKES ARE ‘THREAT’ TO THE SPACE INDUSTRY
There are an estimated 170 million pieces of so-called ‘space junk’ – left behind from missions that could be the size of spent rocket stages or as small as flakes of paint – in orbit in addition to about $ 700 billion (£ 555 billion) of space infrastructure.
But only 22,000 are tracked, and with the fragments capable of traveling at speeds above 27,000 mph, even small pieces of satellites can seriously damage or destroy them.
Traditional gripping methods don’t work in space, however, because suction cups don’t work in a vacuum and the temperatures are too low for fabrics like tape and glue.
Grippers around magnets are useless because most of the debris in orbit around Earth is non-magnetic.
About 500,000 pieces of man-made debris (artist’s impression) are currently orbiting our planet, consisting of disused satellites, pieces of spacecraft and used rockets
Most of the proposed solutions, including rubble harpoons, require or cause powerful interaction with the rubble, allowing these objects to be pushed in unintended, unpredictable directions.
Scientists point to two events that have exacerbated the problem of space junk.
The first was in February 2009, when an Iridium telecom satellite and Kosmos-2251, a Russian military satellite, accidentally collided.
The second was in January 2007, when China tested an anti-satellite weapon on an old Fengyun weather satellite.
Experts also pointed to two sites that have become worryingly cluttered.
One of these is a low Earth orbit used by navigation satellites, the ISS, China’s manned missions and the Hubble telescope, among others.
The other is in geostationary orbit and is used by communications, weather and surveillance satellites that must maintain a fixed position with respect to Earth.