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By 2022, the amount of space junk orbiting the Earth will exceed 9,000 tons. photo/ IST
READ ALSO – International Space Station damaged by space debris
By 2022, the amount of space junk orbiting the Earth will exceed 9,000 tons. It consists of a malfunctioning spaceship, abandoned spaceship parts, fragmentation debris.
In addition, China’s 2007 anti-satellite test, which used a missile to destroy an aging weather satellite, added more than 3,500 pieces of debris to space alone.
Now, more than 25,000 objects larger than 10cm are known to exist in space, of which more than 100 million particles are larger than 1mm, Metro reported on Monday (9/1/2023).
Most orbital debris is found within 2000 km of the Earth’s surface with the largest concentrations of debris found around 750-1000 km.
Above 1,000 km, orbital debris will typically continue to circle the Earth for a thousand years or more.
This means that the earth is surrounded by a shell of debris, orbiting at a speed of about seven to eight km/s. This also makes scientists confused about how to solve this space debris problem.
This could pose a risk to humans on Earth because debris left in orbits of less than 600 km usually falls back to Earth within a few years. Over the past 50 years, an average of one piece of debris has fallen to Earth every day.
Rising waste is a potential hazard to all spacecraft, including the International Space Station (ISS) and other human-manned spacecraft, such as SpaceX’s Crew Dragon.
“We have to clean up by finding the right mechanism when we launch objects into space, there is less debris and if we can, how can we build better spacecraft that clean themselves,” said Sarah Al Amiri, president of the UAE Space Agency.
However, he added that requiring manufacturers to add new technologies to spacecraft increases cost and capability constraints that limit people from accessing space.
(wbs)
