Just above the Earth’s surface is a disk of space junk, which is rushing through space fast enough to do more than rattle the International Space Station.
Earth’s orbit is so complex with man-made and natural objects that it could limit future space travel.
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NASA and the U.S. Space Force have a network of sensors that scan the sky and monitor all 27,000 spaces larger than 10 centimeters.
An object in Earth’s orbit travels at about 15,000 miles per hour. If a small fragment collides with a satellite or spacecraft, it is fast enough to cause serious damage.
Blue Origin Engineer posted an image An almost comminuted block of aluminum while in orbit when a piece of space junk weighing less than an ounce collided with its side.
CNET reports that the International Space Station (ISS) must perform an evasive maneuver about once a year to avoid colliding with space debris.
Scientists have considered the threat that space debris poses to life on Earth and our dreams of space travel.
Kessler Syndrome is the theory that Earth’s orbit will become so congested that debris will continue to collide, creating a field of space junk that is thick enough for us to travel through land.
Elon Musk, one of the biggest proponents of space travel, has added more than 2,500 Starlink satellites to the disk of space junk that gathers around Earth.
SpaceX plans to add up to 42,000 satellites to lower Earth’s orbit, a disappointment for astronomers.
China has tested a military satellite aimed at cleaning up space junk. Space.com reported that due to the military nature of the mission, many details were kept secret.
However, eagle-eyed star observers have found that the Shijan-21 satellite is carrying another satellite to a safe distance 3,000 kilometers from Earth in a space junk “cemetery”.
Much of the space travel and space operations planned for the 21st century are in the hands of private companies rather than public institutions.
In the future, private companies may be held accountable for currently unregulated space junk.