Tech

Space junk gives us a good scare again

Since the human being began to explore space, space junk has been collateral damage of said challenge. During its first decades, when the number of annual launches could be counted on the fingers of one hand, this problem was minor, but as the activity intensified, and the remnants of previous times continued to orbit our planet, the problem began to grow in volume.

This is a matter that we have already discussed on other occasions, and one of those points in which the great contribution made by SpaceX must be recognized, with its policy of making the launch phases of its ships recoverable. This is something that the entire aerospace industry should adopt or, failing that, at least establish the necessary means so that these elements, once used, head back to our planet to disintegrate when trying to cross the atmosphere.

This is, to this day, the main measure that can be taken to combat the problem of space debris, since in recent years various means have been studied to try to collect it, but none have been shown to be effective so far. And, meanwhile, it has already caused a multitude of incidents, the most recent being that of the Soyuz capsule docked at the International Space Station, but also one related to the International Space Station and some remains of space junk, a third in which the protagonists were the Chinese Space Station and a Starlink satellite that did not act to leave the collision course and a room in which space debris almost collided with a Chinese satellite.

There is no doubt, the problem of space debris is getting worse and, with a low orbit increasingly populated by satellites, the jump from incident to accident seems to be written more clearly with each passing day. The latest example of this took place on January 27 when LeoLabsa private company that tracks satellites and objects left in low-Earth orbit, detected the near collision of a satellite and a launch phaseboth from the times of the Soviet Union.

The two objects passed, according to their metrics, just twenty feet from each other, a terrifyingly short distance and one that reminds us that the question we must ask ourselves is not if it will happen, but when it will happen. In this case, moreover, we are talking about two fairly large objects, so the volume of debris that could have been generated by its collision is equally chillingand yet another sign that something needs to be done as soon as possible, or else low orbit may end up so cluttered with space junk that it will make all future launches into space difficult.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *