A spate of recent extraterrestrial accidents is giving a new urgency to international efforts to decrease the danger posed by space junk, the remains of rockets ad derelict satellites that have been accumulating in Earth’s orbit for 50 years. NASA space shuttles and the International Space Station recently survived close encounters, and a U S communications satellite was destroyed in February when it hit a obsolete Russian satellite.
“Unfortunately, we will see more collisions,†says Williams Ailor, director of the center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies at the Aerospace Corporation. “There’s an awful lot of debris up there.â€
NASA currently follows 17,000 orbiting objects and has set rules to limit the litter its missions produce.
Cleaning up the existing waste, however, remains “a technical and economic challenge.†Options might include retrieving debris or moving it into less populated orbits.
NASA says space junk remains a threat to “the safety of persons and property in space and on Earth.†Traveling at more than 20,000 mph, even a tiny piece of debris could cause catastrophic damage to spacecraft, including satellites that relay cellular phone calls and other critical voice data communications around the globe.
Source: LA Times Sunday Magazine (ako nabasahan ako ra sad gi copy, para adtong niingon nga mahulog ra sad daw balik ang space junk! )Linkback:
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