Episode 98 of Stories from Space – The Growing Problem of Space Junk – is now Live!
After a wee hiatus, Stories from Space is back! And this week’s episode is dedicated to something that is overdue: Space Junk! Otherwise known as orbital debris, this problem is the result of decades’ worth of launches (roughly 7000) that have placed 21,620 satellites into orbit. About 14,240 of these satellites are still there, and 11,400 are still operational. Similarly, every launch made before the advent of reusable rockets has left thousands of spent first and second stage rockets in orbit.
Over time, collisions between these objects have littered Low Earth Orbit (LEO) with literally millions of objects ranging from the massive to the incredibly small. Regardless, objects in orbit are accelerated to speeds of 7 to 8 km/s (4.35 to 5 mi/s), making them potentially lethal. And the worst part is, it’s only going to get worse. With more and more space companies conducting regular launches to deploy satellite “mega constellations,” CubeSats, and commercial space stations are deployed, the situation in orbit is projected to get worse.
But the greatest threat is what is known as Kessler Syndrome, where the saturation of LEO with debris will create a cascade effect – where more collisions will mean more debris objects, and so on. Hence why this episode also gets into mitigation strategies and proposals for active debris removal (ADR). But of course, the greatest challenge is changing the way we think!
Check out the links below to learn more.
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