By 
April 25th, 2022
Earth orbit is a junkyard of human-made space clutter.
Credit: Space Junk 3D, LLC. Melrae Pictures
The European Space Agency’s Space Debris Office has published an annual Space Environment Report.
A bottom line: humankind’s behavior in space is improving but is still unsustainable in the long term.
On one hand, Earth is encircled by spacecraft carrying out important work to study our changing climate, deliver global communication and navigation services and help us answer important scientific questions.
Credit: ESA
However, spacecraft orbits are churning with deadly fragments – fast-moving pieces of defunct satellites and rockets trapped in orbit – that threaten our future in space.
Key findings
Several of the key findings of the 2022 report include:
- More satellites are being launched today than ever before. This is driven by the increasing number and scale of commercial satellite constellations in low-Earth orbit.
- Most, but not all, rocket bodies launched today are safely placed in compliant disposal orbits or removed from low-Earth orbit before they can fragment into clouds of dangerous debris. But active satellites today still have to dodge out of the way of objects that were launched decades ago and have since broken into fragments.
- Not enough satellites are removed from heavily congested low-Earth orbits at the end of their lives.
- Technological advances are improving our ability to spot and track smaller fragments of space debris.
Not enough effort
“While we may be more responsible with what we launch today, our current efforts are not enough,” the report explains.
Earth clutter. This artist’s view shows the broad scope of space debris circling the planet, hundreds of miles above sea level, at the same height where low-Earth orbit satellites operate. The spatial density of debris objects increases at high latitudes. Note that the size of the debris elements in this image is greatly exaggerated compared to the size of Earth.
Credit: European Space Agency.)
“If we don’t significantly change the way we use launch, fly and dispose of space objects, an ‘extrapolation’ of our current behavior into the future shows how the number of catastrophic in-space collisions could rise,” the report adds.
Long term, the report concludes, this could lead to a Kessler Syndrome. That’s a situation in which the density of objects in orbit is high enough that collisions between objects and debris create a cascade effect, each crash generating debris that then increases the likelihood of further collisions. “At this point, certain low-Earth orbits will become entirely inhospitable.”
For more information on ESA’s Space Environment Report 2022, go to:
https://www.sdo.esoc.esa.int/environment_report/Space_Environment_Report_latest.pdf
Also, an informative video detailing space debris can be viewed at:
Posted in Space News
