Space debris is the impact of expanding exploration activities in space. Especially now that there are private companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin, which are very active in launching many satellites into space. (Read also; 4 NASA Crew-3 Astronauts Successfully Launch To International Space Station )
Unlike when the beginning of space exploration, there were only a few institutions that would send satellites into space, such as NASA, Roscosmos, and the European Space Agency. There are currently a total of 6,542 satellites in Earth orbit, but only half of them are actually working their way.
The other half is inactive or becomes trash in space. However, space exploration continues to grow and in 2020 alone, more than 1,200 satellites have been launched into Earth orbit. (Read also; This Astronomia Watch is More Expensive than the Cost of Flying into Space )
Imagine, one day the Earth’s orbit becomes crowded with satellites, then there are two large satellites colliding which breaks into small pieces. Then the tiny pieces collided with another satellite, triggering a series of collisions.
Of course more and more pieces of garbage flying in space. Due to this collision, Earth’s orbit becomes increasingly filled with debris. In the end, we won’t have room to launch more rockets and satellites. Such a situation is popularly referred to as Kessler Syndrome.
This is a phenomenon that was first envisioned by NASA scientist Donald J Kessler in 1978. “Finding a way to remove at least some of all that space junk should be a top global priority,” Donald Kessler, Retired NASA Scientist, quoted from the zmescience page.
Fortunately, we are not at that stage yet. However, such collisions due to space junk have occurred, although they are still rare. In March 2021, the 18th Space Control Squadron (18SPCS), a space control unit under the US Space Force, confirmed that a small piece of debris called Object 48078 hit China’s Yunhai 1-02 satellite.
According to Astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, Object 48078 is a remnant of Zenet-2, a Russian rocket launched in 1996. McDowell added that “the Yunhai 1-02 satellite broke apart” after the collision.
– .
