When the world launched the first object/satellite into earth, they probably were not anticipating how cluttered and dangerous it would become about sixty years later. Space debris has been a very popular subject over the last couple of decades. To be more specific, orbital debris is what this paper will mostly look at because that is mostly man-made objects that we have propelled into space and left there for years. These objects such as retired satellites and rockets orbit around in the low earth orbit. Since no country or nation has really attempted to take their old technologies out of orbit, there has been an increased risk of collisions associated with the small fragments that get broken off from the satellites and other electronic toys
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Throughout this research paper, some topics that will be discussed are how this problem became very popular in recent years, how scientists and different nations track space debris and evade them, and some potential solutions that can be thought of or things that are already being done to regulate, stop, and clean the lower earth orbit.
One problem with orbital debris is the Kessler Effect. In 1978 Donald Kessler came up with the idea that one day there would be so much debris in our lower earth orbit that a collision would spark a self sustaining chain reaction where collisions between objects would be inevitable (La Vone). This theory pretty much states that when this happens lower earth orbit and satellite activity would cease to exist for a great period of time due to the challenge of hitting debris when launching satellites into space. According to an article by Brad Plumer, forty nine percent of all of the worlds satellites reside in the lower earth orbit which as we have seen is the most …show more content…
Specific measures have been taken by NASA and other countries to avoid space collision whenever possible. One maneuver that astronauts use is their Soyuz pods which are basically life boats on the ship. These pods help get the astronauts away from the International Space Station in case anything sudden happens such as a drop in pressure or life systems (Garcia). Some orders that command the International Space Station take mission control in Houston and Moscow almost thirty hours to execute because of the ginormous thrusters needed to propel the space station away (Garcia). This is also another reason why the escape pods are extremely helpful in the battle against orbital debris. NASA also runs probability tests very frequently. They will deploy a maneuver to avoid an object if the probability is around one and one hundred thousand as long as it doesn’t compromise the mission and one and ten thousand if it doesn’t put the astronauts at a high risk (Garcia). Only a paint fleck has hit the International Space Station but it created a crack in the window that was 7mm in length (Zjil). The International Space Station is strong but there are so many different objects and dangers that it sometimes can not stop all of
Throughout this research paper, some topics that will be discussed are how this problem became very popular in recent years, how scientists and different nations track space debris and evade them, and some potential solutions that can be thought of or things that are already being done to regulate, stop, and clean the lower earth orbit.
One problem with orbital debris is the Kessler Effect. In 1978 Donald Kessler came up with the idea that one day there would be so much debris in our lower earth orbit that a collision would spark a self sustaining chain reaction where collisions between objects would be inevitable (La Vone). This theory pretty much states that when this happens lower earth orbit and satellite activity would cease to exist for a great period of time due to the challenge of hitting debris when launching satellites into space. According to an article by Brad Plumer, forty nine percent of all of the worlds satellites reside in the lower earth orbit which as we have seen is the most …show more content…
Specific measures have been taken by NASA and other countries to avoid space collision whenever possible. One maneuver that astronauts use is their Soyuz pods which are basically life boats on the ship. These pods help get the astronauts away from the International Space Station in case anything sudden happens such as a drop in pressure or life systems (Garcia). Some orders that command the International Space Station take mission control in Houston and Moscow almost thirty hours to execute because of the ginormous thrusters needed to propel the space station away (Garcia). This is also another reason why the escape pods are extremely helpful in the battle against orbital debris. NASA also runs probability tests very frequently. They will deploy a maneuver to avoid an object if the probability is around one and one hundred thousand as long as it doesn’t compromise the mission and one and ten thousand if it doesn’t put the astronauts at a high risk (Garcia). Only a paint fleck has hit the International Space Station but it created a crack in the window that was 7mm in length (Zjil). The International Space Station is strong but there are so many different objects and dangers that it sometimes can not stop all of