JAKARTA – You know five facts nonsense the outdoor space that not many people know must be understood. Now, waste as residual material of daily human activities not only exists on Earth, but also accumulates outside the Earth.
Space debris found in outer space is known to be debris from rockets and satellites sent since 1957. Of course, the junk that exists is left floating around the Earth.
Summarized from various sources, what are the facts about space debris that are rarely known? For more information, see the following.
1. Large quantity and small size
There are 3,000 dead satellites orbiting the Earth. According to NASA, there are 27,000 pieces of space debris larger than 10 centimeters and more than 100 million pieces smaller than 1 centimeter. There are estimated to be millions of other undetected space junk.
2. Not just around the Earth
The space debris that exists is not only in orbit around the Earth, but also on other planets and satellites. It is known that there are about 54 unmanned vehicles orbiting the Moon and 190,000 kilograms of garbage.
While there are about 10,000 kilograms of space junk on Mars. On Venus, there is the Venera 7 unmanned aircraft launched in 1970. And furthest away is the Pioneer 10 unmanned aircraft stranded on Titan, one of Saturn’s moons.
3. It can fall to Earth and harm humans
Space debris can potentially fall to Earth. Although the probability is small, up to 15% of space debris takes more than 1 year to enter Earth.
Therefore. 6% of space debris entered Earth in less than a year. Meanwhile, 79% will likely not descend to Earth within 100 years.
Even if it enters Earth, most of the space debris will be burned by atmospheric friction. If it still stays and hits the earth’s surface, the impact won’t be as severe as a meteorite.
