By 
October 28th, 2022
Clutter in the cosmos.
Credit: Used with permission: Melrae Pictures/Space Junk 3D
There continues to be an onslaught of rhetoric about dealing with space debris. However, no answer fits the entire panorama of cosmic untidiness we find ourselves in.
Indeed, the state of affairs has already been characterized by orbital debris authorities as a “tragedy of the commons.”
In-orbit explosions can be related to the mixing of residual fuel that remain in tanks or fuel lines once a rocket stage or satellite is discarded in Earth orbit. The resulting explosion can destroy the object and spread its mass across numerous fragments with a wide spectrum of masses and imparted speeds.
Credit: ESA
There is the clutter of dead or dying spacecraft, tossed away booster stages, and myriad pieces of human-made leftovers, from effluents belched out from solid rocket motors, stray nuts and bolts, and paint chips to droplets bubbling out of spacecraft coolant systems – some of them radioactive. Toss in for good measure, shards of satellites created during anti-satellite tests.
In short, it’s a heavenly mess – with long-term consequences.
Go to my new Space.com story – “Getting space junk under control may require an attitude shift” – at:
Posted in Space News
