Forget about that crazy-quilt presidential election in Florida for a moment and think about what’s spinning around high above us. And be glad it’s up there and not down here. Millions of pieces of orbital debris – space junk, as
Forget about that crazy-quilt presidential election in Florida for a moment and
think about what’s spinning around high above us. And be glad it’s up there and
not down here.
Millions of pieces of orbital debris – space junk, as it’s
called – are circling the Earth, creating a virtual traffic jam for the
occasional astronaut. That worries NASA, which has hired Oceanit, a
Hawai’i-based research and engineering firm, to help determine the potential
and results of collisions in outer space.
Broken-down satellites and parts
of rockets from old missions are among the orbiting objects that could get in
the way of the Space Shuttle. Even flakes of paint from space vehicles –
innocuous-sounding but traveling at more than 7 kilometers per second – can
leave a big dent or worse on who? What? When?
Relatively little is known
about the risk of such collisions. So Oceanit will design a computer model that
engineers and mission planners will use to gauge the traffic congestion and
safety of low orbits. That’s the territory of most space operations, including
the International Space Station, whoses occupants should know what they’re up
against.
Because in space, there are no recounts.
