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Ned Potter is the science correspondent for ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson." He has reported on such topics as space exploration, the human genome and climate change.
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Space Junk
February 01, 2007 4:52 PM
Saturn has rings. So does the Earth.
You may recall last month's test by China, in which the Chinese used an old weather satellite of theirs for target practice. It's been suggested that, like the Russian and U.S. military twenty years ago, the Chinese want to be able to take out their adversaries' spy satellites in the event of some future war.
They pulled it off, after years of trying. They've tried to assure the U.S. that there's no threat.
But there's one nagging detail....
The Center for Space Standards & Innovation, a Colorado group that provides space-tracking information for aerospace firms, reports that the debris from the pulverized satellite is now spreading out in a ring around the Earth. Our piece on the subject is HERE.
The ring is not dense -- there are some 500 pieces large enough to be tracked on radar -- but it's vast, and the path is an orbit that goes over the north and south poles.
Through their parent company, Analytical Graphics, Inc., they've put together some COMPUTER ANIMATION, which will give you a good idea of what's happening. (Note: it's a large file, which will open Windows Media Player if your computer is configured as mine is.) The image on this page, also theirs, gives you an idea of what's going on up there. The International Space Station, though its orbit is in a different plane, will pass through that red zone twice every orbit. NASA says there's no risk; CSSI says that can't be said.
To people in the space business, this is part of a growing problem. Even a fleck of paint can be fatal at 17,200 miles an hour.
Space shuttles have had to evade known pieces of space junk on several flights in the past, and at least three satellites have been disabled by orbiting debris since the early 1990s.
Three? That's it? Just remember that each represents millions--or hundreds of millions--of dollars, much of which came from us taxpayers.
February 1, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (9)
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Great article Ned -- keep it up!
Posted by: matt | Feb 1, 2007 11:47:49 PM
Time for the Chinese to develop a shield that the US can steal and then use for the space shuttle.
Posted by: Vorm | Feb 2, 2007 6:18:38 AM
I'd read previous reports that "space junk" was becoming a problem, but I'd never imagined to what extent. I suspect that eventually we'll have to organize a series of spaceflights to clean up our mess. Who'd ever have thought that we'd have such expensive junk overhead?
Posted by: chuck | Feb 2, 2007 8:05:53 AM
Sounds like the Bush Admin (and you) are playing politics with China. They flex their muscle, the US nudges back a bit using a lame environmental attack that we ourselves wouldn't care about had we done the same test.
Get a life.
Posted by: Col. Roy Campbell | Feb 2, 2007 8:28:43 AM
Something to bring to my Astronomy professor's attention. I think he'll get a chuckle out of the headline.
Posted by: Ben | Feb 2, 2007 11:20:11 AM
:)
Posted by: jojo | Feb 9, 2007 1:57:32 PM
Ned, this raises a question: Is there any way to clean up the space junk?
Posted by: Penta | Feb 13, 2007 8:33:43 PM
Hello, Penta. I asked about solutions, and the answer is that there's little that's practical and economical. Best thing to do now, says Nicholas Johnson, who's in charge of the issue at NASA/JSC in Houston, is try to build future spacecraft so that they don't shed parts, and have shielding that will protect against at least minor hits.
--Ned
Posted by: Ned Potter | Feb 14, 2007 4:27:15 PM
So whats the orbital life of this junk before its falls back to earth?
Posted by: kelly | Feb 21, 2007 4:49:30 PM
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