Our people not only struggle to manage our garbage on earth – it is also a problem in outer space.
According to the European Space Agency (ESA), the total mass of all man-made space objects in the Earth’s orbit is more than 9,200 tons. Statistical models estimate that there are 34,000 objects larger than 10 centimeters on our planet, 900,000 objects between 1 and 10 centimeters and 128 million objects between less than 1 centimeter. As more satellites enter our orbit, the large amount of debris is a serious problem for possible collisions or the function of these satellites.
That’s why a spacecraft named ELSA-d (which stands for End-of-Life Services) was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday morning. Its mission is to test a way to clean up spatial waste. In particular, ELSA-d will attach itself to future dead satellites and other space debris and then push them toward the earth so that they can burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere and act as a spatial overseer for man-made orbital debris.
The spacecraft in particular is not designed to capture dead satellites already in orbit, but rather future satellites that will be launched with compatible landing pads. The mission, which began today, is part of a test to see if the two satellites are ready for the mission.
According to the mission’s website, ELSA-d consists of two spacecraft: a server satellite and a client satellite. The service satellite will use its magnetic coupling mechanism to target and meet the customer satellite. A private Japanese company called Astroscale is behind the mission that will eventually target garbage and push space debris to the earth’s natural incinerator.
It’s a very boring catch-and-release dance to do in space, John Auburn, managing director of Astroscale in the UK, explained to NBC News.
Want more science stories in your inbox? Subscribe to Salon’s weekly newsletter The Vulgar Scientist.
“It’s very complicated because you have to match exactly the movement of the spacecraft you are climbing into,” Auburn said. “As a spacecraft with the International Space Station facility, it’s a very controlled maneuver. But if you try to ignite with a failed satellite, it can tumble and you have to come together very slowly, almost as if you were doing a dance.”
But if these satellites can keep the dance going, it could be a viable solution to a growing problem in space.
“It’s an issue like plastic in the ocean,” Auburn said. “We’ve been working for eight years to turn a difficult problem into a business.”
As Salon reported earlier, there is a growing conflict between the interests of the business world and science. More satellites, such as those launched by SpaceX, mean more pollution and garbage in space. This can not only affect astronomical research of ground telescopes, but it can also increase the risk of collisions from other satellites, both commercially and scientifically, in similar orbits.
Scientists fear that if enough satellites collide, it could cause a chain reaction because thousands of fast-moving shards envelop other satellites, which could create a cascade of more shards and thus more collisions. to infinity. The scenario is known as Kessler syndrome, which is supposedly for the NASA scientist who theorizes it. While the destruction of human satellites would affect trade, research and communication, the worst case scenario would be the loss of human life if, for example, the International Space Station or other future space stations were destroyed. The International Space Station has been hit by debris before, including 2016 when such a collision cracked a window.
Satellite collisions have occurred before, but not to such an extent that they caused a chain reaction. In February 2009, two satellites collided – an active Iridium 33 satellite operated by the US Iridium Communications LLC, and Cosmos 2251, a Russian satellite in use. There were reports of bright lights in the sky over Kentucky, and loud bombs from satellite drums falling into the atmosphere. Two years earlier, China had destroyed one of its own satellites in a low orbit around the Earth as part of a test. Shortly afterwards, in 2008, the United States tested a similar anti-satellite weapon by destroying a sawn-off satellite, a move widely interpreted as a bust in conjunction with China’s anti-satellite mission test in the ongoing cold war between the two countries. Both of these events caused a fair amount of debris in their aftermath.
Aaron Rosengren, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of California-San Diego, told NBC News that clearing space debris will be critical to the future of other space missions.
“Even though the space is large, the usable orbits where we keep our satellites are quite small,” Rosengren said. “If we have a higher and higher density of objects in these very narrow areas of space, it will lead to more collisions over time.”