Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




TECH SPACE
Much Ado about Space Debris
by Launchspace Staff
Bethesda MD (SPX) Dec 08, 2011


The real question is: Can we clean up the debris? The practical and realistic answer is: There is no way to clean up all, or even a large portion, of the debris.

In recent days there has been a hutesium et clamor, otherwise known as a hue and cry, for a cleanup of space debris. The demand to remove all that space trash is admirable. The human race has been cluttering near-Earth orbits since the dawn of the Space Age in the late 1950s. Until the last few years, there has been a blatant disregard for collecting or recycling this manmade trash that represents the remnants of many spacecraft and upper stages of launch vehicles.

We have now reached the point at which certain regions of space will continue to propagate the number of debris objects, even if we altogether stop launching new satellites into these regions. Left to natural processes the number of debris pieces will continue to increase through random collisions.

Each such collision event will result in more and smaller objects. At the moment the greatest frequency of events can be characterized as small objects encountering larger objects. As time goes on, and the number of large objects decreases, the most frequent collisions will be purely among small objects.

The frequency of these events will increase exponentially until a cloud of relatively dense debris dust forms to create a thick layer of very small particles between the altitudes of roughly 750 and 1100 km.

The instantaneous density will vary symmetrically with latitude, and be axially symmetric about the poles. The highest densities will occur at high latitudes. Every particle will be travelling at over seven km/sec.

This process will take place over the next several decades to centuries. No one knows, but we do know that the process has begun.

The immediate question seems to be: When are we going to clean up space?

But, the real question is: Can we clean up the debris? The practical and realistic answer is: There is no way to clean up all, or even a large portion, of the debris.

Yes, we could spend a lot of money to remove a few very large objects such as expired satellites and derelict upper stages. But, even with this, the danger to new satellites at altitudes between 750 and 1100 km remains.

If we cannot clean up space enough to relieve the collision threat to operational satellites, what can we do? There are several answers to this question.

One approach is to add debris shielding to satellites for protection against very small debris encounters, and take our chances with the larger debris objects.

In this case, larger means bigger than 0.5 cm. Another approach might be to stop launching satellites into the dangerous (750 to 1100 km) altitude band.

Unfortunately, there are some compelling reasons that have made this band very desirable over the past 50 years. However, the level of desirability is now being countered by the undesirability of potential debris collisions.

One can only conclude that at some point in the future this debris attribute will outweigh the desirable aspects of this region of near-Earth space.

The question now becomes: When should we start seriously considering new ways in which we use space? The practical answer is: Now.

.


Related Links
Launchspace
Space Technology News - Applications and Research






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








TECH SPACE
Russia Mars probe may fall to Earth in January: official
Moscow (AFP) Nov 14, 2011
A Russian probe that was to visit a moon of Mars but is stuck in orbit around the Earth could burn up in the Earth's atmosphere in January, the head of the Russian space agency said Monday. Vladimir Popovkin denied that the Phobos-Grunt probe was considered lost and said scientists had until December to try to re-establish contact, re-programme the probe and send it on its planned trajectory ... read more


TECH SPACE
Schafer Corp Signs Licensing Agreement with MoonDust Technologies

Russia wants to focus on Moon if Mars mission fails

Flying over the three-dimensional Moon

LRO Camera Team Releases High Resolution Global Topographic Map of Moon

TECH SPACE
New Tool for Touring Mars Using Detailed Images

Mars Opportunity Rover Finds Rich Vein Of Gypsum Water Deposits

Opportunity Spent Holiday at 'Turkey Haven'

SAM I Am

TECH SPACE
Ball Aerospace Delivers Orion Phased Array Antenna EDUs

Voyager Hits New Region at Solar System Edge

Ugandan works on space project from mother's backyard

Nanosail-D Sails Home

TECH SPACE
Philatelic Cover Reveals the secret names of second Taikonaut team

First Crew for Tiangong

China post office offers letters from space

15 patents granted for Chinese space docking technology

TECH SPACE
Astronaut TJ Creamer Learns Space Station Science From the Ground Up

FLEX-ible Insight Into Flame Behavior

Growing Knowledge in Space

MDA to extend its services to support Canadarm2 and Dextre for ISS

TECH SPACE
Boeing Receives USAF Reusable Booster System Contract

Soyuz' second mission from French Guiana is readied at the Spaceport

On the record with Arianespace

United Launch Alliance Marks Five Years of Mission Success With 56 Launches in 60 Months

TECH SPACE
Giant Super-Earths Made Of Diamond Are Possible

New Planet Kepler-21b discovery a partnership of both space and ground-based observations

Astronomers Find Goldilocks Planet and Others

The Habitable Exoplanets Catalog, a new online database of habitable worlds

TECH SPACE
Gaia sunshield deployment test

Cassidian debuts new radar product

Australia lifts Samsung ban in defeat for Apple

US director makes first smartphone movie




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement