In 2009, a Defunct Russian Satellite crashed into one of Iridium's Satellites, and completely took it out.
The Iridium Disaster was a wake-up call for the Space Industry. There's estimated to be, over 130 Million Tiny Pieces Smaller than the size of your Thumb out there, and at 17,000 Miles an hour, they can do Damage.
The Litter in Low Earth Orbit has become a constant Danger to the International Space Station. In May, Astronauts there Discovered a Hole in the Station's Giant Robotic Arm. Fortunately, the Arm still Works, this time.
"The Air Force, the Space Force, are constantly monitoring the debris in low Earth orbit," said Astronaut Mike Hopkins, in April, while he was aboard the Space Station. "Sometimes we have to move the Station, sometimes we don't. So, it is [constantly] something that we're always worrying about up here, and something that we have to be mindful of."
And if there's No time to move the Space Station? According to Astronaut Peggy Whitson, who has spent more time in Space than any American, "Then you have to take shelter, get in basically your rescue vehicle, and be prepared to depart the station. My second flight, I think we had to do one debris avoidance maneuver, and we did three or four on my last one. There's a greatly increasing number of objects out there."
John Crassidis, is a Professor at the University at Buffalo, who Specializes in Space Debris. "There's an old saying that space is big. Not anymore. It's getting smaller and smaller by the day!" he said.
Like many Experts, Crassidis is worried about the Kessler Syndrome. "In 1978 Donald Kessler was an engineer at NASA," he said. "And he predicted that debris would hit other debris, which would cause more debris. I think in 50 years, if we don't do something, the probability of collision's gonna be so great that it's not even worth putting satellites up there. We definitely don't wanna do that. There are many fix proposals right now," said Crassidis. "Unfortunately, none of them are feasible."
But that doesn't mean People aren't trying. In 2018, an Experimental European Satellite called the RemoveDEBRIS successfully Ensnared a Fake piece of Debris, in a Net. Another Startup, called Astroscale, has devised several Approaches to Cleaning-Up Space Junk.
"None of us think that this is gonna be easy, but we all know it has to be done," said Chris Blackerby, Astroscale's Chief Operating Officer. In March, the Company launched a Satellite, called ELSA-d, that's Designed to Capture any Piece of Space Junk that's been Fitted with a Special Magnetic Plate. This summer, it will try to Grab a Fake Dead Satellite. "There's an arm that's going to extend out that has magnets on the end of it, and it's gonna go and attach to that satellite," Blackerby said.
"We're never gonna remove every piece of debris," Blackerby said. "But we think that we can put a significant reduction on the risk of future operations in orbit by taking these steps."
Iridium's Matt Desch isn't convinced by those efforts: "Technology can help. Unfortunately, it can't help soon, and it can't help in a big way. There's really no business case for that in the near-term to make a big dent into space."
Meanwhile, our Primary Satellite Traffic Lanes are about to get a lot more Crowded. Companies like Elon Musk's Starlink are in the process of launching Mega-Constellations, Thousands of Tiny Satellites, Designed to provide Internet Service All over the World.
Many other Governments, in the World, have plans to create their own Mega-Constellations. And there aren't Rules-of-the-Road for All of us to Work together Effectively. There's Not even the simplest thing of ensuring that People don't Fly at the same Altitude. You're just asking for Problems.
There has to be a lot more Cooperation and Coordination between Everyone who is in Space. Everybody has to Communicate the Information. You can imagine perhaps the Russians and Chinese have a Problem Coordinating, giving all the Information about their Satellite Locations to the U.S. Air Force. In a way, this is sort of an age-old, Human story. Whether it's us dumping Plastic, or us dumping Chemicals, or us burning Fossil Fuels, we don't really think through the Detritus that we leave Behind.
Low-Earth Orbit is a Global Resource that weAall have to Protect for the Future, because we Don't get another one.
We need someone to develope, a Spave Garbage Truck, that can Capture the Junk and Return it to Earth, to be Recycled.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
