Friday, February 13, 2009

Space Junk

A map of space debris from the European Space Operations Centre (via Universe Today):



From the New York Times, Feb. 11th, 2009:
Debris Spews Into Space After Satellites Collide

For decades, space experts have warned of orbits around the planet growing so crowded that two satellites might one day slam into one another, producing swarms of treacherous debris.

It happened Tuesday. And the whirling fragments could pose a threat to the International Space Station, orbiting 215 miles up with three astronauts on board, though officials said the risk was now small...

It happened some 490 miles above northern Siberia, at around noon Eastern time. Two communications satellites — one Russian, one American — cracked up in silent destruction. In the aftermath, military radars on the ground tracked large amounts of debris going into higher and lower orbits.

“Nothing to this extent” has ever happened before, Mr. Johnson said.
This is a serious and growing problem. You can imagine the worst-case scenario over the long term - that the swarm of junk surrounding Earth becomes so dense that it forms a sort of minefield such that no craft can go into orbit without a significant risk of collision; we will have encaged ourselves with our own debris. That's a remote possibility at this point, but if it came to pass, it wouldn't be the first time we managed to junk a pristine and seemingly limitless environment with our crap.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kontes Seo Kerja keras adalah energi kita Pertamina | Tutorial seo

Unknown said...

we can not deny that junk food can be delicious and catch our attention specially when we go out with some relatives or friends. But the junk food can be harmful for our welfare or health, resulting in a obesity or even affecting our sexual development. So the relation ships are affected too. We need to change eating habits,start exercising frequently and if you have erectil dysfunctions the better alternative could be buy viagra. But the most important thing is take care our health.

tempat terindah said...

indonewz fashionable tempat

Penis Enlargement Pills said...

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I think I will leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Anonymous said...

Uncover elsewhere how with the purpose of complete a reverse cellular reverse phone lookup lookup before a cellular phone search or else still a telephone number search search with the aim of find elsewhere who is trailing to role to has been calling you this whole occasion ok.

sagrada familia said...

It will not truly have success, I feel like this.

Anonymous said...

reverse cell phone lookup

reverse address lookup

cell phone directory

phone number search

free people search

criminal background check

reverse phone lookup

reverse phone lookup

album foto said...

I think people fear idea management and innovation because there's a significant number of ideas that simply won't plan out.......Nice statement.....keep posting

asuransi pendidikan said...

this day I've been searching for information on various issues, this I found very good and I would like to congratulate you for your work.

design interior jakarta said...

I think that this post is one of the best that i have read in my life, congrats you did a great job,.

perusahaan security said...

the difference between the content spammers and most corporate innovators is that the smaller

jual wine said...

I'm writing to you because I just came across a business that I think has great potential. It lets you save money on almost everything. Make money from almost everything,

coklat valentine said...

If growth is important to a firm, and if growth is dependent on offering existing products and services to new customers

belajar internet marketing said...

innovation is very natural and happens in the "real world" as new plants and animals colonize new ecological niches.

kuliner bandung said...

I wonder how you got so good. This is really a fascinating blog, lots of stuff that I can get into. One thing I just want to say is that your Blog is so perfect

konsultan perusahaan said...

We generally think most specifically about the risk associated with a new product introduction

how to stay erect said...

I would be aware that as somebody who really doesn’t comment to blogs a lot (in actual fact, this may be my first put up), I don’t think the time period “lurker” is very flattering to a non-posting reader.

Jada said...

I found a great deal of useful material here!