Rising number of space debris in earth’s orbit could destroy satellites

NIRMAL YESODA

It was on September 22 that the International Space Station (ISS) performed an avoidance manoeuver to avoid a collision from small space junk. Soon after the incident, Nasa revealed that the manoeuver was made possible by a joint operation by the Russian and US flight controllers, and the space agency urged better management of space debris to world countries. And now, a new report has suggested that 75 per cent of space debris in the space is unknown objects.

The new study suggested that satellite-threatening debris in the high-earth orbit is not tracked closely enough, and it could negatively impact the functioning of satellites that are responsible for serving multifarious things on the earth that includes navigation, communication, and weather services.

Human-made trash has been steadily increasing in the orbit since the 1950s as it was during this time that humans started launching satellites. According to space experts, orbital debris comprises old, defunct satellites and, rockets that were used to take these satellites to the earth’s orbit.

“It’s important that we continue to observe the geosynchronous region with large telescopes wherever possible, to start to build up a more complete feel for the faint debris environment. With this survey, we’ve probed deeper than ever before, and still, the population appears to be climbing as our sensitivity limit is reached. While we’re dealing with small number statistics here, it’s unsurprising that we see many more small, faint objects than large, bright ones,” said James Blake, a PhD student at the University of Warwick Department of Physics and the lead author of the study.

A few months back, the International Astronomical Union had slammed Elon Musk’s Starlink project, claiming that the rising number of satellites on earth’s orbit could affect star gazing. Some other space experts believe that increased space debris could trap humans on the earth, as they will be unable to conduct deep space missions in the future due to these rising trash.