Post by ۞Quaalude™۞ on Mar 23, 2009 13:20:09 GMT -5
Hundreds of thousands of pieces of space junk ranging from jettisoned fuel tanks to screws and bolts are circling the Earth, the flotsam of a half century of space exploration. The threat to future space missions by all the orbiting junk is prompting the international scientific community to consider space resource management mechanisms to reduce the creation of new debris.
The U.S.-operated SSN (Space Surveillance Network) tracks 17,300 artificial objects in space larger than 10 centimeters. About 800 of those objects are operational satellites. But the SSN tracks only a fraction of the junk orbiting Earth. According to the Secure World Foundation, which is meeting in Washington this week to promote space situational awareness, estimates 300,000 total objects are out there, the flotsam of a half-century of space exploration.
The junk includes discarded fuel tanks, screws, blots, paint chips, foil scraps and other objects. The Secure World Foundation estimates there are also billions of bits and pieces smaller than one centimeter circling the planet, each following its own orbit. During an eight-year period ending in 2002, the Hubble Space Telescope's solar panels were struck 725,000 times with approximately 5,000 of those impacts large enough to be seen by the naked eye .
In order to manage international problems that will naturally develop as the space environment surrounding Earth becomes more crowded, we must begin on the creation of space resource management mechanisms to reduce the creation of new debris," says the Secure World Foundation. "Our continued ability to maintain a secure and safe space environment depends on it.
The ISS (International Space Station) and the Space Shuttle Discovery currently attached to it were forced March 22 to change orbit to avoid being smacked by 10-year-old debris from a Chinese satellite launch. The maneuver was successful but marked the third time in three weeks the ISS has been threatened by orbiting space junk QC
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The U.S.-operated SSN (Space Surveillance Network) tracks 17,300 artificial objects in space larger than 10 centimeters. About 800 of those objects are operational satellites. But the SSN tracks only a fraction of the junk orbiting Earth. According to the Secure World Foundation, which is meeting in Washington this week to promote space situational awareness, estimates 300,000 total objects are out there, the flotsam of a half-century of space exploration.
The junk includes discarded fuel tanks, screws, blots, paint chips, foil scraps and other objects. The Secure World Foundation estimates there are also billions of bits and pieces smaller than one centimeter circling the planet, each following its own orbit. During an eight-year period ending in 2002, the Hubble Space Telescope's solar panels were struck 725,000 times with approximately 5,000 of those impacts large enough to be seen by the naked eye .
In order to manage international problems that will naturally develop as the space environment surrounding Earth becomes more crowded, we must begin on the creation of space resource management mechanisms to reduce the creation of new debris," says the Secure World Foundation. "Our continued ability to maintain a secure and safe space environment depends on it.
The ISS (International Space Station) and the Space Shuttle Discovery currently attached to it were forced March 22 to change orbit to avoid being smacked by 10-year-old debris from a Chinese satellite launch. The maneuver was successful but marked the third time in three weeks the ISS has been threatened by orbiting space junk QC
OP slattern23.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/gpw-20050129-nasa-iss016-e-006333-earth-from-space-blue-water-white-clouds-space-shuttle-discovery-sts-120-20071025-large.jpg
Comment on this article!