We are now surrounded by all kind of pollution on this world from land pollution to air pollution. One more thing which we are not thinking & not get any concern on, it is space junks, todays day to day life we are continue use of every minutes and second is internet and all other technologies which is majorly provided from space. Satellites where placed at outer side of earth we get major information regards to our planets. Now time to think about our Erath’s orbits. As we face traffic on roads, in short time we face same problem at space.
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We have been sending satellites to space for over 60 years. So far, we have sent over 11,140 satellites in Earth’s orbit. Out of these, 3,372 satellites are currently active. The rest are inactively floating in our orbit. The number of satellites has increased over the past few years. In 2020 alone, 1,283 satellites were launched into lower Earth orbit. This is the highest number of satellite launches in a year to date. Every time we launch a satellite or send a rocket into space, we leave behind junks which keep floting. even a millimetre of cosmic junk traveling at extremely high speeds can be catastrophic to many satellites. This build-up of space junk isn’t just an inconvenience. It’s a threat to our ability to explore and use space in the future. Now the low Earth orbit is about to become even more crowded. Currently, over 12,80,00,000 objects larger than a millimetre are orbiting the Earth, transforming the space around it into a junkyard.
So let’s take a closer look at this issue.
What exactly is space pollution(junk)?
How does it happen?
what can we do about it?
Are we polluting space?
Let us begin with understanding, humans have been launching rockets and satellites into orbit around Earth we’ve also left behind a growing amount of debris, creating what scientists call space junk.
So what exactly is space junk? It’s any man made object left floating in space, from defunct satellites to discarded rocket stages. Even tiny flecks of paint can become space junk if they’re shed from a spacecraft. It’s crucial to ensure that satellites are removed from orbit in a timely manner once they are no longer operational.
Imagine thousands of dead satellites along with countless bits of debris orbiting our planet. This clutter poses a significant risk, especially as we continue to launch more rockets and satellites into space. Each launch adds to the congestion. Currently, there are about 2,000 active satellites orbiting Earth, but that’s just part of the picture. There are also over 3,000 dead satellites and an estimated 34,000 larger pieces of space junk, each at least 10 centimetres in size. And that’s not all. There are millions of smaller pieces too small to track but still capable of causing serious damage if they impact with something else in orbit. space junk is becoming a crowded and hazardous environment. As we continue to explore and rely on space for communication, navigation, and scientific research, it’s essential to address the growing issue of space pollution before it threatens our access to the cosmos. Space debris has been accumulating in Earth’s orbit since the historic launch of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, in October 1957.
Now satellites traveling around 17,000 miles per hour, the chances of these satellites getting close to each other are a lot higher. Collisions between high speed objects in orbit can create thousands of pieces of debris and this could result in a chain reaction where more and more objects collide and create new space junk in the process to the point where Earth’s orbit becomes unusable. The first documented collision involving space debris happened in 1996 when a French satellite was struck and damaged by debris from a French rocket that had exploded a decade before. In 2009, a US commercial satellite, Iridium 33, collided with an inactive Russian communications satellite, Kosmos 2251, at a speed of 22,300 miles per hour.
Over the next few decades, SpaceX is hoping to send a constellation of 42,000 satellites. Amazon’s Project Kuiper, OneWeb Corporation, China’s Hong Yan, and Canada’s telesat are also planning on placing thousands of satellites of their own in the Earth’s orbit. All that space traffic can lead to a disaster. The National Academy of Sciences warned that two bands of low earth orbit space were already past critical density In 2009, researchers at the University of Southampton predicted that the threat from space debris would increase substantially in the coming decades.
However, even before this milestone, human activities might have contributed to space debris as evidenced by events such as the PASCAL b test in August 1957. Furthermore, natural ejecta from Earth itself has found its way into orbit, adding to the debris. Following the launch of Sputnik, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, NORAD, took the initiative to compile a comprehensive database known as the Space Object Catalog. This database cataloged all known rocket launches and objects reaching orbit, including satellites and components of launch vehicles. NASA later published modified versions of this database, facilitating the tracking and monitoring of space objects. NORAD trackers, responsible for maintaining database, were aware of various objects in orbit, many of which resulted from in orbit explosions. NASA established the Orbital Debris Program in 1979 to research mitigation measures for space debris in Earth’s orbit.
How can we stop this orbital junk generating chain reaction?
• The Kessler syndrome, create by NASA scientist Donald Kessler, describes this phenomenon. Dragging parts of space junk down into the Earth’s atmosphere where the frictional heat of re-entry will burn them away could help. In 2018, a satellite called Remove Debris was able to successfully deploy a net around a dummy satellite, simulating a technology that might one day capture space borne garbage.
• In another technique, the satellite used its on board harpoon to puncture a target panel that’s about 5 feet away. The European Space Agency awarded a contract to Clear Space, to retrieve a 220 pound piece of rocket debris that had been orbiting Earth since 2013. Scheduled for 2025, this mission will utilize 4 robotic arms to capture the debris. However, these methods are only useful for larger pieces of junk orbiting Earth. There isn’t a way for us to pick up smaller pieces of debris such as bits of paint and metal.
All we can do is wait for them to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere naturally. If nothing changes and the amount of debris continues to grow, they will pose a risk to future space missions. It’s only a matter of time before more collisions occur, making it nearly impossible to clean up the low Earth orbit. Without innovative solutions, we’ll have to rely on a network of ground and satellite based observatories to watch and monitor the skies.
