SPACE JUNK

Humans have since sent thousands of rockets to space. In their cargo holds, they have stored satellites that help humans communicate, wage war, watch TV, and grok planetary processes.

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Sometimes, as Sputnik did not long after launch, these objects finish their useful lives, slip back into the surly bonds of Earth, and burn up in the atmosphere. Once, a tool bag escaped an ISS astronaut and floated around for eight months. A Chinese missile, for instance, smashed a Chinese satellite into thousands of pieces, some of which continue to circle and circle. These pieces of trash could pose a version of the threat that Tombaugh had worried about: Meanwhile, the number of new satellites humans want to launch is on the rise.

The process can happen naturally as their orbits decay over time. Alternately, these craft can point thrusters into space and willfully plunge into the atmosphere. Making sure satellites obey the year guideline, and watching them closely in the meantime, has spawned a whole sector of creative solutions. Here are some of the latest experiments in de-junking space:.

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The shiny ball was accompanied by its core stage and payload fairing, both of which tumbled around Earth in nearby orbits. Much of the hardware we launch is similarly partnered, meaning each launch can be responsible for multiple pieces of orbital debris. But the majority is derelict, either drifting past its useful lifetime or genuine trash like the spent rocket stages.

Some objects in orbit are moving at up to 17, miles per hour. The well-established Iridium satellite phone network uses 66 satellites plus a few spares if something goes wrong — more on that below. Many of the new generation of satellites could by tiny, but numerous.

The more cluttered space becomes, the greater risk there is for a collision. And this is no hypothetical.

In fact, a large fraction of the debris we know about in space is the result of just two past collisions. These drifting bits of debris are a lot harder to track than one derelict weather satellite. The second noteworthy event happened in , when an active Iridium satellite crashed into a deactivated Russian communications satellite. There are working spacecraft, derelict satellites, discarded remnants of past launches and repair jobs and a few thousand pieces of barely trackable former satellites whirling around the Earth at velocities high enough to make even a grain of sand a killer.

NASA and other agencies are doing their best to keep track of where this orbital debris is, down to the smallest pieces they can track.

Objects in LEO pass within a few kilometers of each other every single day. For astronauts in the International Space Station, protocol is for them to hunker down in the Soyuz capsule if a collision or near-miss is expected, much as they do for any dangerous situation. A recent hole discovered in said capsule — which may have come from an orbital collision — reveals even that strategy has its dangers, though.

Space agencies and private companies are under more and more pressure to clean up after themselves. It will also test harpooning objects to collect them, and using cameras to navigate and report on nearby debris. This article originally appeared on discovermagazine. Receive news, sky-event information, observing tips, and more from Astronomy's weekly email newsletter. View our Privacy Policy. By signing up you may also receive reader surveys and occasional special offers. Asteroids and space debris come together for the first time 13 June Updated December In January , ESA will hold its first-ever joint technology conference that brings together two fundamental pillars of space safety and security: Satellite collisions are rare, and their consequences poorly understood, so a new project seeks to simulate them, for better forecasting of fu ESA reentry expertise 30 March ESA reentry expertise 30 March Every week, on average, a substantial, inert satellite drops into our atmosphere and burns up.

Applications now open for the Space Debris Training Course 15 January Space debris is a hazard to our satellites and spacecraft as well as a contributor to near-Earth space pollution. This website requires javascript to function properly. ESA's first-ever joint technology conference will bring together two fundamental pillars of space safety and security: