Space Waste: A Danger to Satellites and Future Space Travel
Courtesy of NASA
Computer generated image of waste in Earth’s orbits.
On May 9th, 2021, an out-of-control Chinese rocket fell back to Earth, ten days after its launch as part of a mission to build a Chinese space station. The Long March 5B rocket, 100 feet long and weighing over 20 tons, crashed into the Indian ocean, landing west of the Maldives. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but the incident highlighted the growing problem of space debris. Today, space exploration seems more promising than ever, with new entrants like Space-X and Blue Origin, and dedicated national programs in the U.S., China, and Russia. However, these ambitions are at risk due to a simple human failing: carelessness in handling trash.
NASA administrator Bill Nelson criticized China, arguing, “Spacefaring nations must minimize the risks to people and property of Earth of re-entries of space objects.” Nelson’s condemnation might carry more weight if the U.S. wasn’t negligent with its own space junk. In 1979, the first American space station, Skylab, crashed only six years after launch. Skylab showered 77 tons of burning debris over the Indian Ocean and Australia. Russia is the greatest offender, with over 14,000 pieces of space junk in orbit. The U.S. is the second with over 8,000 pieces. China, France and India round out this inauspicious top five.
Space debris is defined by any piece of machinery or human-made object in space which no longer serves a useful function. It includes bigger objects like dead satellites and abandoned launch vehicles, but also smaller fragments, metal bolts, and even paint chips. According to NASA, there are close to 6,000 tons of debris in the Low Earth Orbit (normally defined as the orbit less than 1000 kilometers above Earth). Because ejecting satellites from Earth’s orbit is a costly process, around 3,000 non-operational satellites orbit Earth at the moment, a number that exceeds the 2,000 active satellites we have. Space - even the orbit around Earth - is massive, but there are 34,000 pieces of space junk larger than ten centimeters in size (and millions more smaller pieces) estimated to be in orbit. These parts are zipping around at nearly 18,000 miles per hour, or about seven times faster than the speed of a bullet, meaning that even a small ball bearing could tear through aluminum plating and severely damage operating satellites.
Courtesy of European space Agency
Simulation of space debris impact.
Two events highlight the enormously destructive power of space junk. On January 11th, 2007, Chinese weather satellite FengYun 1-C, in orbit since May 1999, was intentionally destroyed by a kinetic kill vehicle, which demonstrated that countries can blow up each others’ satellites. It also created 2,841 high-velocity debris items over Low Earth Orbit. Nicholas Johnson, chief scientist for OrbitalDebris, states that the bulk of the debris has average orbiting altitudes of 850 kilometers or greater, “[meaning] most will be very long-lived.” Even worse, scientists estimate about an extra 32,000 pieces of smaller, untracked debris from the explosion of FengYun 1-C.
On February 10th, 2009, Cosmos 2251, an inactive Russian communication satellite, and Iridium 33, an active American communications satellite, collided, producing another 2,000 pieces of debris greater than ten centimeters in diameter. Expert analysis indicates that more than half of Iridium debris will remain in orbit for 100 years. Every additional object orbiting Earth adds to the danger of collisions in outer space. Worse, a major collision creates even more dangerous junk, raising the probability of future collisions. On average, the accidental collisions that cause fragmentation are increasing each decade. This phenomenon has been coined as the Kessler effect by Donald J. Kessler, a retired NASA scientist for orbital debris. He theorizes that the exponential and self-sustaining increase in space waste (more fragmentations beget more collisions) could ultimately cause the Low Earth Orbit to be unusable for satellites.
This Kessler effect is a threat to further interplanetary or interstellar space travel missions and could possibly close launch windows for missions to Mars. The amount of space debris in the Low Earth Orbit also poses a dangerous threat to telescopes or space stations, not to mention the satellites which we rely on so heavily. Satellites aid everything from GPS mapping and weather forecasts to communication and cellular connection. Even credit card transactions wouldn’t work if not for satellite processing services. There is so much hope for future space exploration. Risking shutting this hope down because of careless pollution would be a massive shame.
Courtesy of ClearSpace SA
Clear-Space 1 capturing VESPA, image of first space mission removal projected in 2025.
Just like the pollution of our planet, not continuing to pollute space around Earth is the most important goal for space agencies to abide by. However, several experts and space agencies around the world have been brainstorming removal technologies and researching innovative techniques. The European Space Agency has commissioned and planned ClearSpace-1, the first space mission to remove debris from Earth’s orbit, to launch in 2025. The mission will launch a chaser to grab Vespa, a 100 kilogram piece of debris close in size to a small satellite, and de-orbit this piece of waste.
Further innovations and installment of removal technologies lend themselves to being used for malicious purposes such as targeting and taking down satellites of enemy countries. However, to solve the space debris problem, space agencies must work together globally to ensure a cleaner, better future for space exploration and satellite technologies. We need all space agencies to cooperate and prevent accidents, in addition to taking responsibility for cleaning up. Without a relatively clean Low Earth Orbit, our current communication, location, and weather technologies will begin to fail, and our dreams of interplanetary and interstellar travel will come crashing down.
