The increasing dangers of space debris

[Brian G Turner]

This has been discussed a lot - but by the tone of this BBC article, it's reached the point where countries are going to have to agree a way to deal with both defunct satellites and general space debris. Or face serious problems with satellite and space networks in the future:

The race to destroy space garbage - BBC News

Quote:

Millions of pieces of man-made trash are now orbiting the Earth. Some are tiny, others are large enough to be seen with a telescope, but all pose a risk to space craft and satellites.

And according to experts the threat is growing as space becomes more and more crowded.

Some 23,000 pieces of space junk are large enough to be tracked by the US Space Surveillance Network. But most objects are under 10cm (4in) in diameter and can't be monitored. Even something the size of a paper clip can cause catastrophic damage.

...

No single nation or entity is responsible for space although in 1959 the UN set up a Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS).

"There are currently 85 countries that are members of this committee and they range from space powers such as the US, Russia and China to countries like Costa Rica that don't even have a satellite in orbit but are an end user of satellite functions," says Weeden. "Getting all of those countries to agree on this stuff is a really difficult challenge."

But with more nations and commercial organisations operating in Earth's orbit and many looking beyond, such issues are becoming increasingly urgent.

Do nothing is no longer an option.

 

[Ursa major]

Do nothing is no longer an option.

And yet that is the most likely outcome, at least in the short term, because when a problem is hard to solve (and do we even have a theoretical solution in this case), and there are disputes about who should solve it, and pay for the solution, the response tends to be to kick the can down the road.

We've seen this with issues from climate change to sovereign debt crises.

 

[Alexa]

Maybe they could add a magnetic control valve cleaner to each satellite for vacuuming dirt and debris from space. Something like a defence mechanism or planned robot task.

 

[Harpo]

If the clearing up is delayed for too long, it'll eventually be deemed too risky to launch anything at all, even just to clean up the orbiting mess.

And that will mark the beginning of the end of us. Unless all those tiny pieces eventually fall out of orbit after a few generations, before we forget about space exploration.

 

[Danny McG]

A Dyson cordless, that's what they need. Got one two weeks ago and it pulled a floor tile up!

 

[Harpo]

But will a vacuum cleaner clean in a vacuum?

 

[Lumens]

We need remote controlled drones. Suddenly all those gamers have something important to do.

I wish I had done more gaming now.

 

[Biskit]

We need remote controlled drones.

So when the orbital bin-men decide to withdraw labour in a dispute with management I suppose we would have to call it a drone strike.

 

[Ursa major]

A Dyson cordless

And to save resources, the Dyson will likely have to be spherical....

 

[Alexa]

Maybe in UK a Dyson is less expensive, but in Canada the price is ridiculous. Who will pay for them ? The governement from our taxes ?

 

[Ursa major]

Maybe in UK a Dyson is less expensive

I think it's definitely not inexpensive in the UK.

I can't say whether a Dyson cheaper over here than over there, mainly because I don't know how much the equivalent models cost in Canada and in the UK.

 

[Alexa]

In this case, a Dyson is out as cleaning option.

Those responsable should pick up their own garbage.

 

[AlexH]

Hooray, this was the subject of my 300-word writing challenge entry a couple of months ago, "Space Junk".

Did you know NASA have an imaginary area around the ISS, that they call the "pizza box"? The area is shaped like a pizza box, and if they calculate a piece of junk might enter it, they may take evasive action.

Unfortunately, this will probably just be another news article, and nothing will be talked about properly until something catastrophic (or a near-miss) happens. Those responsible should have to clear the mess up. At least tests for clearing some of it are being conducted. It's interesting that Costa Rica are members of "Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space", when they don't have anything in orbit. I wonder how many other countries are the same?

From the article: "Think of it like all the cars on a highway are doing a hundred miles an hour. If the car next to you is doing that speed you don't really notice it. But if the car coming at you is doing that speed - you'll collide at 200 miles an hour." - I didn't think that was completely true?

 

[Lumens]

From the article: "Think of it like all the cars on a highway are doing a hundred miles an hour. If the car next to you is doing that speed you don't really notice it. But if the car coming at you is doing that speed - you'll collide at 200 miles an hour." - I didn't think that was completely true?

Not really. If you hit an identical car, you will come to a dead stop, so it's more like hitting a wall, but still at 100 mph. If you hit a big truck and is sent in the opposite direction of your travel, on the other hand...

 

[Ursa major]

First of all, the closing speed is 200mph, whatever the result of the collision. Second, the energy of the collision will not be the same as that where one car was originally stationary.

If you hit an identical car

it is highly unlikely that

you will come to a dead stop

simply because this requires that both vehicles hit each other exactly head on, that the cars buckle in exactly the same way and that no part of either car becomes detached** and so takes some of its vehicle's momentum.


** - Perhaps the best way of thinking of this is to consider what may happen when a car hits a stationary moose. The legs of the moose will, more or less, adopt the velocity and direction of travel of the car; the moose's body will like stay much nearer to where the animal was standing, meaning that it will, from the point of view of the occupant(s) of the car, come crashing through the windscreen.

 

[Lumens]

Fair enough. I stand collided.

Edit: I still don't quite get it. It seems counter-intuitive. I need to understand the physics better.

*Heads off to Newton related searches.*

 

[Biskit]

Those responsable should pick up their own garbage.

Now there's an interesting challenge - identifying the original owner to send an invoice for the clean-up.

 

[Ursa major]

Now there's an interesting challenge - identifying the original owner to send an invoice for the clean-up.

In the case of the alien mothership in Independence Day, the owners were likely no longer available, and the exchange value of their currency (assuming they had one) was unknown.

Which just left Captain Steven Hiller and David Levinson, the two people who (delinquently) turned the mothership into all that debris, to pay the bill.

(I haven't seen the sequel, Independence Day: Resurgence. Was that debris still causing a problem?)

 

[Alexa]

Now there's an interesting challenge - identifying the original owner to send an invoice for the clean-up.

The list of spacecraft component manufacturers is not so big, as we are dealing with high tech. Every piece for an aireplane has a code to identify its manufacturer. I suppose satellite components have a similar code, so the original owner could be identified, if necessary. Maybe they wait for a new kind of entrepreneurs, specialized in space cleaning.

ALERT FOR SF WRITERS: You should add space cleaners in your novels to inspire the new generation of entrepreneurs.

Voila, Brian ! I found your option.

 

[Harpo]

ALERT FOR SF WRITERS: You should add space cleaners in your novels to inspire the new generation of entrepreneurs.

This is already a big part of my ongoing epic space opera, with a cherry on top