Space Junk - A Different Kind Of Pollution
DescriptionAn article that explores the dangers of space junk and how it is detrimental to humanity.
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ESASpaceX, NASA, Jeff Bezos… a strange combination, I know. As humans, we like the idea of venturing out of our atmosphere and into the unknown. However, a growing net of junk is growing in our orbit, and it is making it increasingly difficult to send rockets into space, especially those with humans onboard. The first question you could ask is, “What is in our orbit?” When someone says “landfill,” the first thing that comes to mind is giant-sized heaps and piles of junk and trash. And that is exactly what Earth looks like. Orbit pollution sounds like a made-up thing, but in reality, it is a major threat to life, and something we need to take care of.
As of September 16, 2021, there were 7,941 satellites in orbit. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first-ever satellite named Sputnik. This satellite was the size of a beach ball and could orbit Earth every hour and 38 minutes. Compare that to the size and speed of today’s International Space Station (ISS), which is roughly the size of a football field and goes 4.76 miles a second. A SECOND! Since Sputnik, satellites have been sent into space at a rapid speed, many improving the lives of people around the world. On September 27, 2021, NASA's Landsat 9 was launched to help track climate change, forest cover, droughts, and more.
Satellites are critical to modern life on Earth; without them, things like getting to work in the morning or talking to your friends over the phone would be much harder. But working satellites are not the reason our planet’s orbit is polluted. The problem lies with deactivated satellites, drifting lifelessly in our orbit, bound to be collided with. These pieces, sometimes shards, are moving faster than a bullet around the planet, and could easily run into anyone or anything in its path. And I don't think I need to tell you how disastrous that could be.
World-renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson is known for his groundbreaking ideas and understanding of the universe. The episode Space Junk, Starlink and Falling Rockets – Cosmic Queries from his podcast StarTalk discusses the components of “space junk.” Here's a quote regarding satellites: “If we have functioning satellites they are not junk, but if we have thousands and thousands of satellites isn’t there a risk they could collide with each other?” Out of the nearly 30,000 objects that we can track, 3,500 are working satellites. That being said, Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, operates 1,500 satellites. Basically, you have to coordinate with Elon before you launch your rocket in order to navigate the orbital highways.
Pieces of debris can tear through a ship. These pieces can be about the size of your fingernail or larger. The problem is it’s hard to calculate and track the locations of these small objects. Debris that are larger can be tracked and maneuvered around. The reason it’s all there in the first place is because of ship and satellite mishaps/explosions or blowing up things in our orbit. Slowly this all creates what could be called an “orbital landfill”. Eventually, things crash down onto our planet or drift out of orbit but that takes a long time. On December 15, 2020, Russia launched a direct-ascent anti-satellite (DA-ASAT) to destroy one of their satellites. The only problem: all of its debris was left behind, creating a mess. You could call it space pollution. Regardless, it is detrimental to our future in space exploration and forces agencies like the Department of Defense to track what they can and help others avoid them.
Additionally, the United States Space Force is tracking what they can of the space debris. After this, they are informing governments and organizations about these threats, and working with them on how to maneuver around them. Space debris is a modern-day problem, and it is the people involved with the Space Force who are working to solve it.
Monomoy Regional High School physics and astronomy teacher Dr. Otto also gave some insight into the topic. When talking about how the problem can be eliminated, he said, “It’s going to be a struggle because a big contributor of space debris is the government. Different governments are basically causing problems for our orbit… There are no rules on who is required to take their junk down.”
Dr. Otto added that the pieces of “junk” are mainly one centimeter or larger and travel at insane speeds. There are two levels of Earth's orbit: low and geosynchronous. Low orbit is closer to our atmosphere while geosynchronous is on a farther elliptical trajectory. The thing is, when debris hits a satellite, the debris from those hit more and more, basically creating a domino effect. “The point at which it would be impossible to launch from Earth would be when you have all these satellites and junk that can’t be maneuvered around.” Basically, unless there is some sort of coordination or regulations, there eventually will have a blockade in our orbit, making it so we cannot launch anything.
Space junk is a problem that is not well known, but could prevent our society from our destined evolution into space.
Action needs to be taken swiftly.
As of September 16, 2021, there were 7,941 satellites in orbit. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first-ever satellite named Sputnik. This satellite was the size of a beach ball and could orbit Earth every hour and 38 minutes. Compare that to the size and speed of today’s International Space Station (ISS), which is roughly the size of a football field and goes 4.76 miles a second. A SECOND! Since Sputnik, satellites have been sent into space at a rapid speed, many improving the lives of people around the world. On September 27, 2021, NASA's Landsat 9 was launched to help track climate change, forest cover, droughts, and more.
Satellites are critical to modern life on Earth; without them, things like getting to work in the morning or talking to your friends over the phone would be much harder. But working satellites are not the reason our planet’s orbit is polluted. The problem lies with deactivated satellites, drifting lifelessly in our orbit, bound to be collided with. These pieces, sometimes shards, are moving faster than a bullet around the planet, and could easily run into anyone or anything in its path. And I don't think I need to tell you how disastrous that could be.
World-renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson is known for his groundbreaking ideas and understanding of the universe. The episode Space Junk, Starlink and Falling Rockets – Cosmic Queries from his podcast StarTalk discusses the components of “space junk.” Here's a quote regarding satellites: “If we have functioning satellites they are not junk, but if we have thousands and thousands of satellites isn’t there a risk they could collide with each other?” Out of the nearly 30,000 objects that we can track, 3,500 are working satellites. That being said, Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, operates 1,500 satellites. Basically, you have to coordinate with Elon before you launch your rocket in order to navigate the orbital highways.
Pieces of debris can tear through a ship. These pieces can be about the size of your fingernail or larger. The problem is it’s hard to calculate and track the locations of these small objects. Debris that are larger can be tracked and maneuvered around. The reason it’s all there in the first place is because of ship and satellite mishaps/explosions or blowing up things in our orbit. Slowly this all creates what could be called an “orbital landfill”. Eventually, things crash down onto our planet or drift out of orbit but that takes a long time. On December 15, 2020, Russia launched a direct-ascent anti-satellite (DA-ASAT) to destroy one of their satellites. The only problem: all of its debris was left behind, creating a mess. You could call it space pollution. Regardless, it is detrimental to our future in space exploration and forces agencies like the Department of Defense to track what they can and help others avoid them.
Additionally, the United States Space Force is tracking what they can of the space debris. After this, they are informing governments and organizations about these threats, and working with them on how to maneuver around them. Space debris is a modern-day problem, and it is the people involved with the Space Force who are working to solve it.
Monomoy Regional High School physics and astronomy teacher Dr. Otto also gave some insight into the topic. When talking about how the problem can be eliminated, he said, “It’s going to be a struggle because a big contributor of space debris is the government. Different governments are basically causing problems for our orbit… There are no rules on who is required to take their junk down.”
Dr. Otto added that the pieces of “junk” are mainly one centimeter or larger and travel at insane speeds. There are two levels of Earth's orbit: low and geosynchronous. Low orbit is closer to our atmosphere while geosynchronous is on a farther elliptical trajectory. The thing is, when debris hits a satellite, the debris from those hit more and more, basically creating a domino effect. “The point at which it would be impossible to launch from Earth would be when you have all these satellites and junk that can’t be maneuvered around.” Basically, unless there is some sort of coordination or regulations, there eventually will have a blockade in our orbit, making it so we cannot launch anything.
Space junk is a problem that is not well known, but could prevent our society from our destined evolution into space.
Action needs to be taken swiftly.
