Satellite Debris 'Cloud' Posing Hazard

[Delta4Embassy]

Space debris from satellite explosion increases collision risk for space craft

"Debris from the US Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) F13 satellite, which recently exploded in orbit, could pose a threat to other spacecraft and missions according to new research from the University of Southampton.

On 3 February 2015, the DMSP F13 satellite exploded in orbit producing over an estimated 100 pieces of space debris that were detected using radar. In assessing how debris created by the explosion might affect their spacecraft, the European Space Agency and other satellite operators concluded that it would pose little risk to their missions.

However, scientists from the Astronautics Research Group at the University of Southampton investigated the risks to a wide range of space missions, coming from smaller pieces of debris created by the explosion that cannot be detected using radar based on the ground.

In the case of the explosion of DMSP-F13, they detected 100 new catalogued objects, which suggest that more than 50,000 small fragments larger than 1mm were created."

 

[there4eyeM]

Gee, it 'exploded', did it?
Bet they have some nice explanations for that, too.

 

[Manonthestreet]

There are suggestions to attach lasers to ISS to clean this up.
m.space.com/29271-space-station-laser-cannon-orbital-debris.html
I think Japan is also looking at ways to address this

 

[Delta4Embassy]

There are suggestions to attach lasers to ISS to clean this up.
m.space.com/29271-space-station-laser-cannon-orbital-debris.html
I think Japan is also looking at ways to address this

Not likely. The 'don't arm space' movement will raise 18 kinds of hell over any such proposal. And rightly so.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Gee, it 'exploded', did it?
Bet they have some nice explanations for that, too.

Thought about a different title of like, "Aliens blow up satellite" but decided against it.

 

[Manonthestreet]

Sure they can get around that. If they put a satellite up, when you're done boost it out of orbit or into atmosphere, problem solved.

 

[there4eyeM]

There are suggestions to attach lasers to ISS to clean this up.
m.space.com/29271-space-station-laser-cannon-orbital-debris.html
I think Japan is also looking at ways to address this

Not likely. The 'don't arm space' movement will raise 18 kinds of hell over any such proposal. And rightly so.

"Hmmm...it 'exploded', eh?"

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - the sky is fallin' an' it's all dem Chinamen's fault...

A Chinese Space Lab Will Soon Fall From The Sky. Where It Lands, No One Knows
March 20, 2018 • Most of the Chinese space lab, the size of a city bus, will burn up in the atmosphere, but some debris may survive re-entry.

A Chinese space lab the size of a city bus will soon be falling back to Earth, and no one knows exactly where bits of it might crash down. Current predictions say that the 19,000-pound lab should re-enter the earth's atmosphere sometime in the last few days of March or the first few days of April. The lab is called Tiangong-1, which means "heavenly palace." China launched it into space in 2011. The outpost was briefly visited twice by Chinese taikonauts, including Wang Yaping, who beamed down a science lecture to schoolchildren. Although Tiangong-1 has been called a Chinese "space station," it actually is just a precursor to China's planned space station, says Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor at the Naval War College.

Since 1992, she says, China has been following a methodical program "to demonstrate human space flight and culminate with a large space station." For that, China's space agency needs to get experience with things like docking and long-term life support in space. Tiangong-1 and another lab in orbit called Tiangong-2, "have been technology test bed laboratories to do experimentation on all those different areas and more," she explains. Now, though, Tiangong-1 is headed back down. And even though space junk this size falls to Earth a few times a year, it's usually something like a spent rocket stage — not a home-away-from-home for space travelers. "These kinds of events are noteworthy and people in this business kind of watch to see what they can learn about how these things come apart as they come down," says Bill Ailor of the Aerospace Corporation's Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies.

A model of the Tiangong-1 space station at a Chinese airshow in 2010. The real Tiangong-1 will reenter the atmosphere around the end of March.​

Most of it, though not all, should burn up during the fiery re-entry. "Somewhere between, say, 2,000 and 8,000 pounds might come down," Ailor says. The possible impact zone covers about two-thirds of the globe, including a lot of the continental United States. But exactly where and when is hard to predict because the vehicle will interact with the atmosphere, which is constantly changing. Still, don't worry about getting hit, says Ailor. "It's just not a very likely event that a particular person would have a problem with it," he says.

In 60 years of space exploration, only one person — an American woman named Lottie Williams — is known to have been struck by falling space junk, says Ailor, "and it was just like a piece of fabric material that kind of brushed her on the shoulder." He hopes that someone gets to see the bright streaks created by Tiangong-1 breaking up and burning. "It would be a beautiful thing to watch," says Ailor. But since most of our planet is covered by oceans, he says the most likely scenario is that it will come down over the water and never be seen or heard from again.

A Chinese Space Lab Will Soon Fall From The Sky. Where It Lands, No One Knows

 

[waltky]

Aussies Developing Lasers to Track, Destroy Space Debris...

Australia Developing Lasers to Track, Destroy Space Junk
March 24, 2018 — Australian scientists say a powerful ground-based laser targeting space junk will be ready for use next year. They say there are hundreds of thousands of pieces of debris circling the Earth that have the potential to damage or destroy satellites.

Reducing the amount of space junk in orbit has been the focus of a meeting of scientists this week in Canberra organized by Australia’s Space Environment Research Center. The meeting has heard that a laser using energy from light radiation to move discarded objects in space could be ready for use within a year. Researchers in Australia believe the technology would be able to change the path of orbital junk to prevent collisions with satellites. The aim is to eventually build more powerful laser beams that could push debris into the Earth’s atmosphere, where it would burn up.

Professor Craig Smith, head of EOS Space Systems, the Australian company that is developing the junk-busting devices, explained how it would work. “We track objects and predict collisions to high accuracy and if we think a space debris object is going to have a collision with another space debris object then we can use our laser to change its orbits rather than crashing into a satellite or another space debris object causing more space debris. Again as we ramp up the power to bigger and bigger lasers then, yes, you can actually start moving it enough to what we call de-orbit the satellite by reducing its velocity enough that it starts to change orbit height and eventually hits the atmosphere and the atmosphere takes over and drags it,” Smith said.

A meteor streaks across the sky in the early morning as people watching during the Perseid meteor shower in Ramon Carter near the town of Mitzpe Ramon, southern Israel, August 13, 2015. The Perseid meteor shower is sparked every August when the Earth passes through a stream of space debris left by comet Swift-Tuttle.​

The system, which would operate through a telescope near the Australian capital, Canberra, is expected to be finished early next year. It is estimated there are 7,500 tons of trash in space. This includes an estimated half-a-million marble-sized pieces of junk, while other items, such as discarded rockets and disused parts of space crafts, are much larger.

In 2012, the eight-ton Envisat Earth Observation satellite unexpectedly shut-down in orbit, where it remains. The size of a school bus, the satellite is one of the largest pieces of 'junk' in orbit and could become a catastrophic hazard if struck by other space debris and broken into fragments. But space debris does not have to be big to cause damage. A floating fleck of paint is thought to have cracked a window on the International Space Station. In Europe, large nets and harpoons are being developed to catch debris encircling our planet.

Australia Developing Lasers to Track, Destroy Space Junk