Space junk...

[birdguy 3,943]

I read a day or two ago where 143 more satellites were launched into orbit.  Will there ever be a limit?

 

In 2009 two satellites collided and sent 93,000 more pieces of space junk into orbit.  In January of last year two large satellites passed within 15 meters of each other over Pittsburgh.  Of the 9,000 satellites launched so far 5,000 are inop...dead.  2,000 are still operational.  Those 9,000 plus launches have left 22,300 other trackable pieces of space junk and hundreds of thousands of untrackable pieces up there.

 

With every launch those numbers go up and up.

 

Everything goes someplace.  Look at our oceans today.  We thought the vast ocean could swallow up all of our garbage and trash.  Garbage scows and barges used to haul the trash from coastal cities out into the ocean a few miles and just dump it.  But there is a limit...a saturation point.  We've reached it in our oceans already.  When will the available earth orbit space reach a saturation point?  I realize some of it re-enters the atmosphere and burns up.  But like filling a bathtub with a fire hose.  The drain can't keep up with the water coming in and the tub overflows.  Will the same thing happen with our space junk?  

 

Noel

[martin-w 3,235]

2 hours ago, birdguy said:

I read a day or two ago where 143 more satellites were launched into orbit.  Will there ever be a limit?

 

Noel

 

Nope! Starlink is expected to put into orbit 42,000! Then we have other companies planning the same. OneWeb are putting 650 in orbit by the end of this year and plan to put 48,000 in orbit. 

I share your concern Noel. 

The agreement is that when dead, they are designed to burn up in the atmosphere, but it still raises an eyebrow. Astronomers aren't happy that's fort sure. 

[W2DR 1,860]

"The Universe is infinite
But space has its limits
Rockets a launching
Sat'lites are orbiting
Explosions in Space
Oh what a waste
Fragments go flying
And we go crying “Space junk we’ve got” Man-made or not
Then comes Kessler Who knows the better
When things collide
Their debris do multiply
Thanks to partnering
And NASA’s gathering
We look for ways
To manage the spray"

- S. Thuy Nguyen-Onstott.

Edited January 26, 2021 by W2DR

[Penzoil3 480]

7 hours ago, birdguy said:

Of the 9,000 satellites launched so far 5,000 are inop...dead.  2,000 are still operational. 

So what about the other 2000 ? They just work some of the time, or what ?

 LOL

 Sue

[birdguy 3,943]

I am assuming they fell out of orbit and burned up on re-entry Sue.  I suppose a lot of them do.  But I don't think as many  re-enter as are launched into orbit.

Noel

[ILSFREAK 56]

Read  10 or 15 years ago about  convention regarding space junk etc.

The white coats there reckoned with the accumulating space garbage there is (not maybe ) going to be at some stage so much junk - and satelites- that crashes will keep piling up till the point where no more internet, maybe for as long as  2 generations

But dont worry, we clever humans will find a way to even bypass that. till we really reach the point of absolute point of no return, then we`re  really screwed ourselves. 

[cmpbellsjc 2,961]

3 hours ago, birdguy said:

I am assuming they fell out of orbit and burned up on re-entry Sue.  I suppose a lot of them do.  But I don't think as many  re-enter as are launched into orbit.

Noel

We’ll probably have some type of space garbage astronauts in the future who’s mission will be to spend a few weeks in orbit finding non-working satellites and redirecting their orbits to re-enter and burn up or send them out of earth orbit into the depths of space.

Space is a big place but at some point I’d imagine that normal orbit altitudes for manned space craft could become a lot more  dangerous in terms of risk of collisions.

[goates 576]

1 hour ago, cmpbellsjc said:

We’ll probably have some type of space garbage astronauts in the future who’s mission will be to spend a few weeks in orbit finding non-working satellites and redirecting their orbits to re-enter and burn up or send them out of earth orbit into the depths of space.

More likely going to be automated satellites specially designed for it, at least for the larger objects.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/19/17878218/space-junk-remove-debris-net-harpoon-collisions

https://www.esa.int/Safety_Security/Clean_Space/ESA_commissions_world_s_first_space_debris_removal

[Christopher Low 5,354]

As usual, the human race ignores problems of this kind until it is too late. You only have to look at the state we are in with plastic garbage literally everywhere to see that. It sickens me every time I see news reports showing vast amounts of garbage on beaches, or floating around in the sea. We need to take drastic action now (stop manufacturing non recyclable plastics would be a great start). Some people may not like it, but (as I see it) we do not have any other choice.

EDIT: It is worth pointing out here that the retail sector's fetish for vacuum sealed transparent plastic packaging for God knows how many items needs to stop. It may look pretty, but it is absolutely not necessary.

Edited January 27, 2021 by Christopher Low

[edpatino 1,964]

Who knows and how the saturation point would be defined?. How far or close we really are from that level?. It’s not that it shouldn’t be a concern, it’s just to know where we are in terms of being really threatened?.

Cheers, Ed

[martin-w 3,235]

Its a concern for sure but you have to admire the tech. The latest batch of satalites are equipped with lasers so no ground stations are required. These guys are for over the poles to serve Alaska and high latitude areas of Canada. The lasers enable the satalites to communicate at 100 Mbps.

Edited January 27, 2021 by martin-w

[HighBypass 2,339]

I really must get around to watching this anime:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetes

[birdguy 3,943]

From Mark's link.

'International Treaty Organization (INTO) which wants space development primarily to serve the economic and military needs of developed nations also play major roles'

That says it all.  As long as it is profitable to cram one more satellite into orbit or as long as the military thinks they have to cram one more satellite in orbit the cleanup will be a secondary priority just as it is with earth's natural resources.

I could go on but the moderators would lock the thread because mentioning corporate greed and the military industrial complex would be deemed too political.

Noel

[martin-w 3,235]

And to annoy us even more, Amazon want to put 3000 satellites in orbit too. 😁

Look at the junk that's there now...

 

Edited January 27, 2021 by martin-w

[F737MAX 5,605]

7 minutes ago, martin-w said:

Look at the junk that's there now...

Then some nation decides to launch another anti-satellite missile, which creates yet more debris, exacerbating the space junk problem...