Thousands of satellites in space, 17,000 pieces of junk...

[amicus]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090212/ap_on_sc/satellite_collision


No real point, political or otherwise that I personally draw from this, but I find it extremely interesting and disturbing taking into account the Solar Maximum approaching in 2012 and new nations, including Iran, launching satellites into orbit.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Scientists are keeping a close eye on orbital debris created when two communications satellites — one American, the other Russian — smashed into each other hundreds of miles above the Earth.

NASA said it will take weeks to determine the full magnitude of the unprecedented crash and whether any other satellites or even the Hubble Space Telescope are threatened.

The collision, which occurred nearly 500 miles over Siberia on Tuesday, was the first high-speed impact between two intact spacecraft, NASA officials said.

"We knew this was going to happen eventually," said Mark Matney, an orbital debris scientist at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

There have been four other cases in which space objects have collided accidentally in orbit, NASA said. But those were considered minor and involved parts of spent rockets or small satellites.

At the beginning of this year there were roughly 17,000 pieces of manmade debris orbiting Earth, Johnson said. The items, at least 4 inches in size, are being tracked by the U.S. Space Surveillance Network, which is operated by the military. The network detected the two debris clouds created Tuesday.

Litter in orbit has increased in recent years, in part because of the deliberate breakups of old satellites. It's gotten so bad that orbital debris is now the biggest threat to a space shuttle in flight, surpassing the dangers of liftoff and return to Earth. NASA is in regular touch with the Space Surveillance Network, to keep the space station a safe distance from any encroaching objects, and shuttles, too, when they're flying.

"The collisions are going to be becoming more and more important in the coming decades," Matney said.

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For your consideration.

Amicus...

 

[The_Fool]

Considering the types of materials used in making these devices, there may be some financial advantages to "picking up the trash" in the not too distant future.

 

[amicus]

Funny you would say that...not long ago I saw on Science channel I think, a program that included a company that did just that with space junk that came back through the atmosphere with enough value in it for salvage.

Perhaps it was NASA that bought the junk to study the effects of extreme heat on metallic objects they themselves put into space.

Such a world, eh?

amicus...

 

[SeaCat]

Ami,

I have been watching this story with interest as it has been developing.

I have also been interested in the thoughts about cleaning up all of the "Space Junk". Haveing read about this quite a bit I can only reach the conclusion that the effort won't be made for quite some time as it is much too expensive in fuel expenditures for even the largest pieces at this time. (Not to mention little details like ownership. I can see the lawsuits generated if someone scooped up a non functional satelite.) The only way an endeavor like this could be worked out would be if they somehow found a way to create fuel for the capture ships in orbit.

What concerns me as I have been reading about the impact of the satelites is the future dangers to things like the Space Shuttle and other satelites from the scattering debri field.

Cat

 

[damppanties]

http://electronrun.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/space_junk.jpg​

 

[cloudy]

I was a freshman in college when Space Lab fell. It was a huge reason for parties along frat row: targets painted on front lawns and "Space Lab will hit here!" signs.