Space trash dumping

[Wahawk56]

I was reading an article that said NASA is worried space travel may not be possible soon due to all the debris orbiting the earth and we may be stuck on the planet. Any real concern here?

 

[DanL53]

I was reading an article that said NASA is worried space travel may not be possible soon due to all the debris orbiting the earth and we may be stuck on the planet. Any real concern here?

I think you are talking about the "Kessler effect". And yes, there is concern. The idea is that at some point there will be so much debris, especially in low orbits, that it will keep smashing into itself creating even more debris, faster than the natural orbital decay will bring it down to earth.

It is already more expensive to plan missions to space because of debris. It is already more dangerous for the same reason. Certain orbital paths are worse than others. As to whether the Kessler effect has already happened? I haven't seen too many articles that think it has. But here is something to think about. A 5 cm piece of debris travels very fast in space, and is big enough to wipe out satellites, solar panels....and last I read there were like 20,000 of them flying around right now.

 

[iammrhawkeyes]

 

[who r u]

we cant travel the earth without f*cking something up. is it surprising that we f*ucked up space travel

 

[The Tradition]

Sounds like there might be a niche market for space trash collection.

 

[Hawk and Awe]

Sounds like there might be a niche market for space trash collection.

There are people working on it. I thought NASA had a contest or grant program out there

 

[swagsurfer02]

I was reading an article that said NASA is worried space travel may not be possible soon due to all the debris orbiting the earth and we may be stuck on the planet. Any real concern here?

I think you are talking about the "Kessler effect". And yes, there is concern. The idea is that at some point there will be so much debris, especially in low orbits, that it will keep smashing into itself creating even more debris, faster than the natural orbital decay will bring it down to earth.

It is already more expensive to plan missions to space because of debris. It is already more dangerous for the same reason. Certain orbital paths are worse than others. As to whether the Kessler effect has already happened? I haven't seen too many articles that think it has. But here is something to think about. A 5 cm piece of debris travels very fast in space, and is big enough to wipe out satellites, solar panels....and last I read there were like 20,000 of them flying around right now.

Hey, just so you guys know I was at a conference today and one of the guest speakers was an astronaut. After he was done with his presentation I caught him outside in the lobby and asked him about the Kessler effect. He basically told me that this debris is moving at around 17,000 mph. I asked him at what point do they start recording the debris, he told me when it's about the size of a baseball.

Another thing that I thought was interesting was he said they thought the meteor that possibly struck the earth and killed the dinosaurs was only about 40 yards in length and around 30 yards in height. I figured it would be something much larger than that. also that another asteroid that size passed by earth just a few years ago. One thing he said is that rubber gloves are the most important thing in space. When asked why, he smiled and said to push, cut, and tie!


Here's his wiki page


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clayton_Anderson

 

[IMCC965]

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/us-air-force-builds-new-radar-space-junk-180953855/?no-ist

 

[naturalmwa]

If we get enough junk, do you think we could get a ring like saturn?

 

[IMCC965]

If we get enough junk, do you think we could get a ring like saturn?

We already do. I worked at U.S. Space Command. There's a lot of crap up there right now. In fact, there's a division that does nothing more than inform the space station when junk is in the area.