What almost 70yrs of space flight has left behind.

Space “trashsteroids” coming in hot.

Direct link to interactive tracking display.

https://platform.leolabs.space/visualizations/leo

Keep your hardhats ready.

Cheers.

But will it work?

Space junk is causing clutter around the Earth, but a small cube could help cut back on trash.

A small high-tech cube made by Australian engineers and scientists has just been launched into space for the first time — and it could be a solution to the growing space junk problem.

Space is set to become more crowded than ever, with tens of thousands of satellites predicted to be launched into Earth's orbit over the next decade.

Space archaeologist Alice Gorman said with that influx of spacecraft would come the waste that they leave behind.

"Space junk refers to all of the old satellites and fragments of satellites and tiny particles that are in ... orbit at the moment," Dr Gorman said.

"A conservative estimate is that there are around 37,000 pieces of junk that are larger than 10 centimetres in size. If we go below 10 centimetres then there are hundreds of millions of tiny little fragments.

"For decades people have been relying on it being incinerated in the atmosphere to pull it out of orbit, but we're putting more stuff up there than is being pulled out, so we have an urgent problem.".....

I hope that it does.

Cheers.

There are no rules in space. Japan fears that could lead to collisions, a junk cascade or even war.

In January 2022, space watchers were startled when a Chinese satellite suddenly moved from its usual path around the globe, docked with a derelict spacecraft and flung it into what's known as a "graveyard orbit".

Shijian-21's move to get rid of the defunct weather satellite, Beidou-2 G2, was done during daylight hours, when it's hard for telescopes to observe satellites.

It's a manoeuvre that would typically be celebrated.

Decades of space flight have left the area above earth's stratosphere — the thermosphere and exosphere — increasingly cluttered, filled with dead satellites, abandoned pieces of rockets, and tiny pieces of spacecraft that have become dislodged.

There's a real need to clean up the area or face the increasing risk of space debris colliding with a live satellite, crippling vital communications, or global positioning systems.

But some observers viewed China's manoeuvre with deep suspicion......

So far, Elon and co. have launched around 4,100 satellites out of a planned 12,000 (and maybe 30K after that if approved).

In my book from now on for every new satellite Musk chucks into space he should have to de-orbit at least ten of his existing ones. And if he decides that's too much for him to endure he should be required to de-orbit the lot within 6 months, no questions, just get rid of them all.

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

SpaceX are by far one of the better satellite companies...

Their launch orbits are such that any non-operational StarLinks quickly naturally deorbit in weeks.

Their main shell satellites are deliberately deorbited before EOL. They are also low enough that they will naturally deorbit in a few years even if completely dead.


Contrast that with the recklessness from such as China and Russia...

We are already in the early stages of a Kessler syndrome gaining momentum...


Fly safe?...
Martin

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