Who’s going to clean the space junk?

Source: Pixabay

Modern-day, Modern world. What we are trying to do now is a total contribution to the future. But during this process, we always forget to clean up the mess we made while making those things happen that are useful to human society or the environment. People tend to forget those little things that didn’t seem to be important at that moment, but it becomes a huge issue when it grows by piling up again and again which eventually becomes a problem for the upcoming generation. Keeping this in mind we are talking about the space junks.

What are space junks?

Any piece of machinery waste or debris left by humans in space is known as space junk or space debris. It can refer to big objects such as dead satellites that have failed or been left in orbit at the end of their mission. Such as the rocket stages, defunct satellites, mission disaster remnants, and many more. And some human-made junk has been left on the moon too.

How much space junk is there?

As it stands today, the Earth’s lower orbit is crowded with about 2,000 active satellites orbiting Earth now. There are around 34,000 pieces of space debris bigger than 10 centimeters in size and millions of smaller pieces that could cause an increased collision between active mission elements and this “space junk” creates a destructive cycle of more debris.

How does the space junk get into the space?

When we launch objects from Earth, the space junk remains in space until it re-enters the atmosphere.

Those space junks often re-enter the atmosphere after a few years, and mostly they burn up which as a result they don’t reach the ground. Otherwise, they all are orbiting the earth’s lower orbit for years and years. Some space junks are the results of collision or anti-satellite tests in orbit. Most countries like the USA, China, and India have used missiles to practice blowing up their own satellites which as a result creates a thousand more pieces of debris.

What are the risks that space junks imply?

Well, it doesn’t have a huge risk on our space exploration team. But it does pose a danger to other satellites that are in orbit around the earth. Every year, there are collision avoidance maneuvers performed including by the International Space Station (ISS), where astronauts live.

What are the solutions to clean up the space junk?

There are many companies who want to clean the space junk within 20-25 years. The United Nations is asking the companies to provide a noble and affordable solution to clean up the space debris. So many companies gave a noble solution which is to pull back the dead satellites into the atmosphere where they will burn up and won’t reach the ground. We could do this by using magnets to grab them like catching them in a huge net. However, these solutions are only useful for larger satellites orbiting the Earth. There isn’t really a way to catch the smaller pieces of debris floating around the earth.

Source: NASA

According to some reports to solve this issue, NASA is joining hands with TransAstra to launch concept bags that will capture this space junk. Let’s see how this works out:

As part of its Phase 2 small business innovation research program, NASA has awarded US-based space logistics startup TransAstra with an exclusive contract worth $850,000 to clean space junk. Under this deal, the startup will build a specialized inflatable bag that will capture and safely transport the debris back to the earth's surface.

Source: The Week

As reported by SpaceNews, the idea is built upon the capture bag technology that was prepared by NASA for its asteroid redirect mission. These bags come in various shapes and sizes and can capture debris, ranging from defunct satellites to large rocket bodies. Upon successful capture, these struts will close creating an airtight seal. Since the inflatable bag will remain constantly attached to a small spacecraft ferry, it will allow NASA and TransAstra to travel to different sections of the earth’s orbit to ensure effective pickup and cleanup. Once the bag is full, a special propulsion mechanism will ensure that the spacecraft can successfully re-enter the Earth’s orbit.

The report suggests that the entire act will be like collecting “fired bullets”. Also, it is going to be very fuel-intensive due to the entire act of going into space, capturing the debris, and then re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere.

“There is now agreement within the community that the debris environment has reached a ‘tipping point’ where debris would continue to increase even if all launches were stopped,” Kessler says. It takes an ‘iridium-cosmos-type collision to get everyone’s attention. As for the Kessler syndrome, “It has already started” the debris expert says. There are collisions taking place all the time, less dramatic and not at the large size scale,” Kessler adds.