Space Debris: The Growing Threat Aound Earth

 Today it is only thanks to human civilization that 2.12 billion tons of waste is dumped every year around the world. Our Earth is carrying the burden of about 7 billion tons of waste in such a situation. When there is talk of bringing life to Mars, Moon or Outer planet.

 

What guarantee is there that humans will not go there and spread waste?

But today this matter has gone far beyond just a theory. Humans have crossed the limit of spreading waste on another world. Practically speaking, if we think about going into space, then you will not be able to escape human waste there either.

 

Is there waste in space too? How does this waste get there?

We will know everything, so let's assume for a moment that we get a chance to go into space. Of course you would be excited that I am going to see a different view, and you will get to see the Earth pollution free not completely. But there is a 100% chance of heartbreak. Now, this may sound strange to you, but the truth is that human ambitions have turned space into junk after the Earth. If you go there, you will not only see huge galaxies, tiny planets and shining stars.  But along with this beauty you will also see the waste spread by humans. Small and large pieces of satellites and all of this have happened only over the last 65years. It has been only 65 years since humans have had access to space, and 65 years ago humans began exploring space. Since then until today, 9,300 metric tons of debris has accumulated in space. You will be surprised to know, but this waste is moving in different orbits, and this waste has increased so much since the rate of satellite launches in the world has increased. This waste in space is first called space junk. If humans continue to spread waste in space like this, then in the coming days many space programs may also have to be stopped.

 

We must know how debris is created in space?

So every day you see in the news and also hear, friends, that this country launched so many satellites. Now, to install these satellites, the rocket is separated from the spacecraft at different stages at multiple levels. Now, during this entire process, leftover materials, hardware from various space missions, and other such things accumulate as debris in space. Now, the most frightening thing about this is that this debris continuously collects around the Earth and circles at a speed of 25,000 km per hour, and even then, 70% of it is in low orbit, meaning it is moving in the atmosphere closest to Earth. It comes at an altitude of 150 km to 2,000 kilometers from the Earth.

 

If this space junk is moving in our atmosphere, how much harm will it cause us?

The layer of the atmosphere in which this junk is moving is very important in many ways. For weather forecasting and surveillance satellites, Hubble Telescope-like science missions, and the International Space Station. Debris keeps moving continuously, and it moves so fast that the pieces in it collide with each other and after colliding with one another, they break into hundreds and thousands of pieces. Most of these metal pieces are very dangerous for satellites as well as astronauts. For example, a piece about the size of a grain of rice can make a hole in a human space suit, and if that happens, the pressure inside the suit will immediately decrease and the astronaut will die.

 

     The beginning of sending things into space took place on October 4, 1957. On this day, the Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial satellite Sputnik 1on R7 Semyorka rocket. The R7 rocket was an intercontinental ballistic missile that could deliver nuclear weapons to any corner of the world. This was the era of the Cold War. It was a small metal ball, about the size of a ball, and radio transmitters were mounted on it. But three months after being released into space, it fell back to Earth, entered the atmosphere, and completely burned up. Sputnik was gone, and as it departed, it marked the beginning of the race for space domination between the two superpowers of the time, America and the Soviet Union. Now, although Sputnik was the first thing to go into space, no debris was created in space from its pieces. The beginning of space debris started after 1961. This was the same year when a man named Yuri

Gagarin was sent into space. He too was a citizen of the Soviet Union.

That means the first satellite and the first human to be sent into space were both with the USSR.

    According to the European Space Agency, since then until today, more than 7000 approx launches have taken place. Due to which at present there are more than 50,000 approx objects in space and out of these, 28,000 approx are still moving there. There are currently only 4,000 such satellites that are working properly. These figures show that in 1970 there were around 2,000 objects in space, which have now increased to more than 10 times that number. At the same time, there are 900,000 objects larger than one centimetre are currently moving in space. That means the danger is continuously increasing.

If we take a sensational look at space, the biggest contribution to increasing space debris has come from the decade after 2010.

    Yes, as many rockets, transmitters, antennas, and receivers were sent into space during this period, more than were sent in the previous five decades combined. The situation from here is becoming even more frightening because many private companies have also jumped into the space race and are now not ready to turn back. Thousands more satellites may be sent in the coming years.

 

 In such a situation, experts estimate that by the year 2030, there will be 100,000 commercial satellites in space. Now, with such a large number of satellites in space and so many objects in Earth's orbit. The possibility of them colliding with each other increases considerably. It is not that there have never been any accidents because of these objects. Because of this debris, some dangerous collisions have already occurred in space.

                The most terrible collision so far happened in 2009, when a Russian military satellite, Cosmos 2251, collided with an American communication satellite, Iridium 33. This took place 789 kilometers above the Earth surface over Siberia.  In this collision both satellites were completely shattered. It is said that the collision created around 2,300 pieces. Many of these later returned to the Earth's atmosphere and burned up, but the worrying thing here is that some of these pieces reached 1,000 kilometers above Earth. Now they will continue moving in the same orbit for many years, and the risk of their colliding with other satellites will also remain.

              A similar incident happened with a satellite of the European Space Agency in 2016. One of the satellite's solar panels developed a malfunction.

Later it was discovered that a one-millimeter piece of space junk had hit its panel. This was the reason for the accident. Therefore, it appears that even a small collision can produce debris 100 times larger than the original object. When the sending of things into space had just begun, friends, at that time debris was created either when satellites broke apart or from additional hardware deliberately discarded during launches.

            In 1986, several European countries together with France launched the rocket Orion 1. Its second-stage rocket suddenly exploded. This collision created the largest debris field in space up to that time, and it produced around 492 pieces. Yes, 32 of these are still moving in orbit. A similar blast was observed by an astrophysicist in 1978. After this, this type of event was called the Kessler Syndrome. He said that if collisions continue happening in space like this, an enormous amount of debris will accumulate there. The pieces will collide with one another and create even more pieces. The situation will become such that the atmosphere closest to Earth will be filled with pieces.

One day, a time will come when no spacecraft will be able to leave Earth's orbit.

Looking at the rate at which launches are taking place, it seems that this situation may arrive soon.

 

Should scientists find some other solution for dealing with this problem, or should this race for space be stopped for now?