Man's disposable culture has reached space. The space of near earth orbit is becoming overcrowded with debris ranging from expired rocket boosters and obsolete satellites to nano-particles. {13.12.18} After six decades of exploration and now commercial use, space is no longer space, but a junkyard full of dangerous objects traveling at thousands of mile per hour capable of destroying a manned capsule or expensive satellite. A defunct Cosmos satellite took out a commercial Iridium spacecraft creating even more debris in 2009. The International Space Station (ISS) regularly adjusts its orbit to avoid dangerous objects.
The problem is about to get worse as communication companies get set to launch entire "constellations" of thousands of orbiting satellites. Amazon’s Project Kuiper is seeking to create a mega constellation of up to 3,200 satellites in the near future. So what is being done about cleaning up space? Not much is the short answer according to Scientific American. Removing junk from space is not easy and up until now an avoidable problem. NASA scientist Donald Kessler predicted in the 1970's the junk problem would reach a "tipping point" where debris collisions increase even if all space launches were stopped in a type of chain reaction. Kessler told Scientific American that this critical point has already been reached with smaller, less noticeable collisions taking place all the time.
Technological fixes are being suggested, but none have reach the operational deployment stage. Japan has launched a two satellite demonstration system that utilizes magnets to attract debris and take them out of orbit. Such demonstration systems are fine, but they do not address the basic problem: the proliferation of more detritus as space launches increase over time. A few decades ago, there were only two space faring nations, now there are more than five and counting as the costs of space flight decreases. One obvious solution to the problem is to stop leaving expired missions in orbit. Reusable boosters such as those pioneered by SpaceX is one approach to reducing dangerous space junk. A SpaceX Falcon 9 provided a spectacular light show over Seattle recently as it fortunately burned up in the atmosphere before hitting the ground. A tractor size chunk of burning booster crashing into your corn field is one thing, crashing through your roof is another.
Orbiting junk like the European Space Agency's Envisat, which is the size of a double-decked bus, is another category of hazard. Blowing it up would only create more debris. Towing it into the atmosphere over an ocean seems to be a possible solution. Even nano-sized particles can perforate the thin skin of a manned spacecraft or damage an expensive satellite. So there is no universal solution to the problem of space debris. In addition, any technology that can remove entire satellites or parts of one from orbit presents the possibility of using it for an anti-satellite weapon. That possibility requires earth-bound diplomacy and cooperation.
As long as major collisions like Cosmos-Iridium [artist impression above] are relatively rare, private space ventures will be loath to address the problem because it is complex, expensive, and technically challenging. As the rate of space launches exceed the re-entry of space objects, the problem will grow worse. A space debris expert at the University of Texas-Austin thinks space faring nations will have to agree that near-Earth space is an ecosystem like land, air and the ocean. “It’s not infinite, so we need environmental protection,” he says. US Person [burning] eyes it the same way.