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Space Junk
How do we solve the problem that Sputnik started?
Chapter 1
It has been 63 years since Sputnik, the first man-made object, was launched into space - but these days Sputnik is by no means the only satellite orbiting the Earth.
While these satellites may assist we Earthlings far below, what kind of damage are these artificial objects doing to our atmosphere?
Metals can break, objects can decay, batteries die, pieces can detach from the International Space Station (ISS). And when that happens, these pieces become little more than debris, and part of a broader problem: space junk.
Estimated number of orbital debris*
*According to the European Space Agency, the information is correct as of February 2020.
Regularly tracked debris
Around 22,300
Total mass of orbiting objects
Over 8,800 tonnes
> 1mm to 1 cm
128 million pieces
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> 1cm to 10 cm
900,000 pieces
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> 10 cm
34,000 pieces
Around 9,600 satellites have been placed in the Earth's orbit**
** Figures above and below are approximate.
The average speed of a bullet is 1,700 mph.
Space junk can travel up to 17,500 mph.
Over
500
Estimated number of
space events that have
caused fragmentation.
There are two types of space junk.
Firstly, there is the artificial kind. Man-made objects that have been launched into orbit and have decayed, collided with another object to create more fragmented pieces or discarded because they do not work.
The other type of space junk, known as natural debris, are meteoroids that often orbit the Sun rather than the Earth. As only artificial junk orbits the Earth, they are often called space junk or orbital debris.
Some layers of our orbit are worse than others. Jacob Geer, the Head of National Spaceflight Policy at the UK Space Agency, explains: "You can divide the orbits into three distinctive areas. You have Low Earth Orbit (LEO), Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) and you have what is called the Geostationary Orbit (GEO), which is really quite far out from the Earth in orbital terms."
"As you move closer to the Earth, to "MEO" and particularly "LEO", that is where you have the debris created from 50 years of space launches."
But the damage that space junk can cause for us on Earth is minimal. If a piece of junk did re-enter the atmosphere then, depending on its materials and size, it would burn up. But that does not mean there are no risks at all.
Space junk causes significant and regular issues for spacecraft and astronauts. Back in May 2016, one of the windows of the ISS was cracked by either a metal fragment or paint flake. Its size? A few thousandths of a millimetre across.
If it had been 10cm large, it could have shattered a spacecraft into pieces. But this is unlikely to happen, the ISS and other operators in space are well equipped and prepared to avoid the possibility of such a crash. But while the possibility may be slim, the probability of such a crash being extremely destructive is high.
An example of a destructive event that occurs in our orbit is from discarded rocket bodies which store fuel for rockets. Ralph "Dinz" Dinsley, Executive Director of Northern Space and Security Ltd (NORSS) says: "As that fuel decays it gets more unstable, which risks the rocket body to explode and that explodes into hundreds of pieces. And there are hundreds of rocket bodies up there."
Moreover, Geer explains that the components of rockets that help spacecraft get into space can also contribute to space junk.
"So, when a rocket launches into space, the top of it, the upper stage which is the last bit to go into space from our atmosphere, that can stay in space for 25, 30 or maybe even 50 more years. And so just by actually getting into space, we have created debris."
We have been exploring space for nearly six decades, so there is nothing new about space junk. However, in recent years the issue has been growing and different nations have different approaches to the problem.
In a spacecraft far away...
Spacetime: Debris Edition
Chapter 2
It’s not all negative. Space junk has also had some positive outcomes, in that treaties and legislation have come about, trying to handle how different nations and spacecraft conduct their behaviour in space. But how far does this legislation go?
The answer is not very far. According to Dinz, space law only really allows for liability of objects re-entering the atmosphere and hitting, for example, a plane or a person. Rather than objects against other objects within space.
Michelle Hanlon, a space lawyer and director, explains if and how legal consequences apply to those that create space junk.
00:00 / 03:01
In 2018, the UN introduced "long-term sustainability" guidelines for "outer space activities", meaning that satellites which went up into space would need to behave responsibly in orbit and not create debris.
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However, Geer explains that while these are "really important initiatives" they are only guidelines. When it comes to satellites, each country can implement their own licensing conditions. For example, a lifespan of 25 years for the satellite before it needs to break up and come back down to Earth. But getting companies to follow these conditions may work better in theory rather than in practice.
Geer says: "Unless all the different nations across the world who grant licenses in this case, agree to have the same rules, it does not really work. Because everyone can go 'Well, I can just go to a different country that does not apply the same level of laws to me, and it will make my life easier and cheaper.'"
So, what can space law do for those spacecraft and companies that create space junk?
Law and Orbit
Limits of Liability
Chapter 3
It is worth noting that in recent years there have been a lot of private companies offering to remove junk. However, one of the critical questions for these companies is 'Why?'. Why would they offer to remove space junk, which ultimately means spending money when they are not legally obliged to do so?
Some countries, like the US, have considered putting "debris remediation" criteria into their guidelines.
Hanlon explains: "That is how space law percolates. If we get a nation to do something unilaterally, then other nations will follow suit. But yes, taking that first step is hard because you really feel like you are putting your own businesses at a disadvantage."
00:00 / 01:47
One example of a project exploring "debris remediation" is RemoveDEBRIS led by the Surrey Space Centre at the University of Surrey. RemoveDEBRIS is pioneering space junk removal technologies and their efficiency on mock targets in "LEO".
Launched in 2018, the project conducted four experiments, including a net, a harpoon, a drag sail and a vision-based navigation system.
Mission: Debris
Chapter 4
Net experiment – A smaller research satellite (called a CubeSat), named DebrisSat 1, was released from the larger satellite to mimic a piece of debris. A net was then ejected out towards the object, caught it and deorbited.
Vision-based navigation experiment -Another CubeSat, called DebrisSat 2, was released from the RemoveDEBRIS satellite. The larger satellite moved around the smaller research satellite to obtain information about the object, meant to mimic uncontrolled debris.
Harpoon experiment - A harpoon connected by a tether was fired at a plate attached to an arm extending from the RemoveDEBRIS satellite, to test the accuracy and impact that the harpoon could have if it were targeted at debris in space.
Dragsail - After the other experiments, the satellite deployed a large sail, which acted as an air brake. The drag sail brought RemoveDEBRIS from the relatively low orbital altitude of the space station into the planet's atmosphere to disintegrate.
RemoveDEBRIS
RemoveDEBRIS' methods may have initially been viewed as unconventional, but other nations have suggested even more experimental approaches to help with the issue of space junk.
Plan of Action
Chapter 5
The Spectrum of Solutions
Despite this, Geer explains that the projects only aim of "getting rid of one, two, three pieces of debris over the next five years" when there are thousands of non-functional satellites in orbit and millions of pieces of space junk that are less than 1cm large. He says: "It doesn't really touch the scale of the debris that is up there."
Another method against space junk is manoeuvring an object so that it avoids possible collisions. For example, NASA has guidelines for these instances and when they are deemed necessary to apply to the ISS.
For passing debris, the guidelines picture a 30-mile' pizza box' around a spacecraft. If predictions and tracking data suggest that the debris will pass close enough, then they will move.
For possible collisions, manoeuvres are conducted when there is 1 in 100,000 chance that the crash will cause more risks for the crew.
Atmospheric
Assistance
Most of the suggested "debris remediation" methods aim to bring the debris into "LEO" or back into the atmosphere and then the environment can do the rest.
So instead of creating space junk removing satellites or machines, are there any other more natural remedies?
Chapter 6
Solar Solution
New Actors
Even if all launches into space were to stop now, in order to prevent more space junk being added to our orbit, some observers think that the problem is too far gone.
Plans from companies like Space X and Amazon aim to launch thousands of satellites to achieve global internet coverage, adding 50,000 smaller satellites to the Earth's orbit, meaning that more manoeuvres would be done and the chances for debris creation would increase.
Not only are these proposed satellites smaller, but they are also only supposed to last for 5-10 years. However, these seemingly sustainable factors do not exclude these satellites from becoming contributors and accessories to debris creation.
If these hundreds or thousands of satellites were incorrectly put into the "LEO" (which is already the most crowded band for space junk) or brought down improperly too, Geer believes that it "could really exasperate the problem and make it a lot worse".
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Dinz and Clements, respectively, give their views on the new players in the contemporary space race.
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00:00 / 05:49
Chapter 7
​What does this mean for the future of the Earth's orbit? Well, if projects such as RemoveDEBRIS continue their work and duplicate in other nations, efforts to physically remove debris could be implemented soon.
But some theoretical simulations, like the Kessler Syndrome, predict that the debris could cascade out of control on its own.
Geer explains the syndrome as "where you have a chain reaction of collisions. One collision creates 50 bits of debris, those 50 bits of debris have collisions of their own, creating 50 more and so on and so on".
If scenarios such as the Kessler Syndrome occur, large parts of the Earth's orbits will be inaccessible. So, in future years, it is possible that space junk may prevent the necessary work that satellites, spacecraft and astronauts do for us daily.
As we have seen space junk is many different things, a 60-year-old time capsule of our space ventures and a crystal ball of our future ones. Penalties may not adequately apply to those who clutter our orbit, but it is our knowledge of Earth and the greater universe as well as our reliance on satellites that will suffer the consequences.
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