Space Debris is Perilous: Causes and Solutions

 

“The biggest contributor to the current space debris problem is explosions in orbit, caused by left-over energy-fuel and batteries – onboard spacecraft and rockets” – Holger Krag, Head of the ESA’s Space Safety programme. “Despite measures being in place for years to prevent this, we see no decline in the number of such events. Trends towards end-of-mission disposal are improving but at a slow pace”.

Showing space Debris in space. 
Source: ESA

The term “Space Debris” is used for space junk which is inactive and dead. These space junks stay at graveyard orbit. It is moving in the Earth orbit in a very high speed which may anytime have a collision with the space active and important objects. This is a huge issue for the active satellites and the International Space Station. The space junk speed is 22,300 mph, which is higher than the bullet. It is created by the launching of space objects like satellites, rockets and various other space objects which every part is not reusable. Apart from that, China’s Anti-satellite test has made a huge space junk which was a huge point of criticism all over the world. Some space junks have been turned to dust which cannot collide but can be lethal. It is a kind of space pollution which is hazardous for future civilization. In one side the human civilization is planning to settle down in the space, Moon, Moon and Venus but at the same time, they are polluting the space by not taking proper precautions in launching and cleaning up space. This may affect the space the same as Earth got affected by the plastics. The scientists are working on it with various scientific methods which include the breaking down of the space junk into various pieces, bringing back the space junk to Earth in order to recycle or restructure them.  

Tiny bits of dead satellite and rocket in Space
Source: Britannica 

The matter of space debris has no inclusion in the space field before the launch of the Sputnik 1 in 1957. Still, it has not got mentioned in the researches and academics. Last year, the two big dead satellites collided, the International Space Station has collided with many small objects from the space and three times they avoided the collision with space objects. The term space debris first got its mentioned in 1960. The term "Space debris" took a long time to take its place on the global platform.  

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) is an orbital yard where millions of pieces of space junk are flying which includes the painting of spacecraft and pieces of spacecraft, tiny parts of the rocket and various inactive satellites. Till now, we don’t have any international space laws for the cleaning up of the space debris. Space Debris is a challenge not only for the active satellites but also for the celestial objects, space environment, space natural resources and future space missions. The U.S. Department of Defense is tracking the space junk. They have tracked more than 90% of non-operational satellites which is 20,000 artificial satellites.

 

Earth is covered with space junk
Source: ESA

European Space Agency has signed $103 million contracts with a Swiss start-up named ClearSpace SA to make a giant space claw to grab the space junk. Their first focus is a retired Vespa payload adapter. The target year is 2025. They are also thinking of recycling them by refuelling them or updating their technology. The Senate has approved the Bill S. 4827 on November 18^th, 2020 which aims for Space Traffic Management. The Chairman of the Committee, Sen. Roger Wicker introduced this bill on October 21, 2020, and asked for $15 million for the fiscal year 2021. The bill aim is to set up Centres of Excellence for Space Situational Awareness in the world which shall have emulsification of science and policy. Further, it shall provide data related to space debris in order to track them. The powers of this bill have been shifted from the Defense Department to the Commerce Department. The approved bill has some changes from the proposed bill. The minor changes are SEC. 2 (1) removal of “growing commercial activity in space requires immediate action to address”, SEC. 2 (4) addition of “manage, process and disseminate” in spite of “provide”. The major change is the SEC. (5) in which the bill states the abilities and functions of the Space Commerce. The proposed amendment under Chapter 507 of the title 51 is amended. The Bill is still waiting to pass the Congress. The Bill will be named as “SPACE Act of 2020” or “Space Preservation and Conjunction Emergency Act of 2020”.    

Space Debris is a huge issue for the Earth as well as Space. It is our duty to preserve the space with the help of advanced technology and law. There are various organisations and governments are thinking about this issue and they are taking necessary measures. The think tanks and researchers must focus on it with an aim to solve the issue.