[size="3"][url="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/article2509681.ece"]Littered space[/url]
[quote name="Editorial, The Hindu" date="October 4, 2011"]A one-inch long piece of debris in space travels at 7.5 km per second, about 30 times the speed of a jumbo jet. It can easily destroy a satellite in orbit; and a centimetre-long fragment can seriously damage a satellite. Researchers are currently tracking some 22,000 junk objects ââ¬â from small bits of debris to large satellites. There are about 500,000 waste fragments between 1 cm and 10 cm in length. The amount of junk accumulating in space has been growing over the last five decades, and is estimated to triple in the next two decades. Little wonder that a recent report by the U.S. National Research Council warns that the amount of debris in space has already reached a ââ¬Åtipping point.ââ¬Â [color="#ff0000"]{ Of course, we have to take their word for it! } [/color]The increase in debris can come in two ways ââ¬â addition of new material from broken satellites and spent rocket stages, and newer and smaller objects thrown up by the collision of two waste materials. For instance, in 2009, the collision of two satellites over Siberia ââ¬â a defunct Russian military satellite (Cosmos 2251) and a functioning U.S. Iridium satellite ââ¬â created nearly 1,700 waste items. But even more waste was created by the testing of an anti-satellite weapon by China in January 2007 when an obsolete Chinese weather satellite was struck by the weapon. According to Nature, nearly 40,000 particles between 1 cm and 10 cm, and around 800 pieces of more than 10 cm in length, were generated by this collision. In all, the ââ¬Åcatalogued debris fragmentsââ¬Â stood ââ¬Åmore than doubledââ¬Â by the two incidents.
Clean-up strategies have to contend against several odds. For one thing, by its very nature, the task of removing the waste is formidable and prohibitively expensive. Secondly, it is dogged by legal problems, which are a legacy of the Cold War. Under international law, no nation can salvage or collect the space objects of other nations, and this applies to debris orbiting in space! [color="#ff0000"]{ So what next? Debris-cleaning tax on all nations for the improprieties of a few[/color][/size][size="3"][color="#ff0000"], like carbon tax? [/color][/size][size="3"][color="#ff0000"] }[/color] It was time that countries urgently revisited this absurd legal position. The space environment is becoming increasingly hazardous to spacecraft and astronauts. More recently, the crew of the International Space Station had to take shelter inside the Soyuz spacecraft as a junk item narrowly missed hitting the station. A similar incident occurred in 2009. Unlike the space station that has special shields for protecting it, the satellites are highly vulnerable to debris strikes. Providing better protection and indulging in debris avoidance manoeuvres are currently the only ways of avoiding damage from impact. But there is yet another problem: these measures are increasing the cost of spacecraft design and operation.[/quote]
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[quote name="Editorial, The Hindu" date="October 4, 2011"]A one-inch long piece of debris in space travels at 7.5 km per second, about 30 times the speed of a jumbo jet. It can easily destroy a satellite in orbit; and a centimetre-long fragment can seriously damage a satellite. Researchers are currently tracking some 22,000 junk objects ââ¬â from small bits of debris to large satellites. There are about 500,000 waste fragments between 1 cm and 10 cm in length. The amount of junk accumulating in space has been growing over the last five decades, and is estimated to triple in the next two decades. Little wonder that a recent report by the U.S. National Research Council warns that the amount of debris in space has already reached a ââ¬Åtipping point.ââ¬Â [color="#ff0000"]{ Of course, we have to take their word for it! } [/color]The increase in debris can come in two ways ââ¬â addition of new material from broken satellites and spent rocket stages, and newer and smaller objects thrown up by the collision of two waste materials. For instance, in 2009, the collision of two satellites over Siberia ââ¬â a defunct Russian military satellite (Cosmos 2251) and a functioning U.S. Iridium satellite ââ¬â created nearly 1,700 waste items. But even more waste was created by the testing of an anti-satellite weapon by China in January 2007 when an obsolete Chinese weather satellite was struck by the weapon. According to Nature, nearly 40,000 particles between 1 cm and 10 cm, and around 800 pieces of more than 10 cm in length, were generated by this collision. In all, the ââ¬Åcatalogued debris fragmentsââ¬Â stood ââ¬Åmore than doubledââ¬Â by the two incidents.
Clean-up strategies have to contend against several odds. For one thing, by its very nature, the task of removing the waste is formidable and prohibitively expensive. Secondly, it is dogged by legal problems, which are a legacy of the Cold War. Under international law, no nation can salvage or collect the space objects of other nations, and this applies to debris orbiting in space! [color="#ff0000"]{ So what next? Debris-cleaning tax on all nations for the improprieties of a few[/color][/size][size="3"][color="#ff0000"], like carbon tax? [/color][/size][size="3"][color="#ff0000"] }[/color] It was time that countries urgently revisited this absurd legal position. The space environment is becoming increasingly hazardous to spacecraft and astronauts. More recently, the crew of the International Space Station had to take shelter inside the Soyuz spacecraft as a junk item narrowly missed hitting the station. A similar incident occurred in 2009. Unlike the space station that has special shields for protecting it, the satellites are highly vulnerable to debris strikes. Providing better protection and indulging in debris avoidance manoeuvres are currently the only ways of avoiding damage from impact. But there is yet another problem: these measures are increasing the cost of spacecraft design and operation.[/quote]
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