Published on December 27, 2024 at 6:15 p.m.
More than a million objects are circulating in orbit around the Earth, and no one is there to direct the circulation. An accident happened so quickly…
Chaotic traffic
When Artemis 2 takes off for the Moon in 2026, the spacecraft will have to calculate its trajectory towards the Moon to the nearest millimeter, but in addition, take into account millions of obstacles moving at more than 25,000 km/h. There are in fact 9,900 satellites currently orbiting the Earth. More than two thirds belong to the Starlink company. But there are also more than 35,000 pieces of debris more than 10 cm in diameter, the size of a baseball, and at least a million objects measuring more than a centimeter that are moving without the slightest control above our atmosphere. If two of these objects collided at more than 25,000 km/h, they could create a chain reaction that would jeopardize not only the International Space Station, but any form of space exploration that becomes too dangerous.
Zero debris goal
Astrophysicist Donald Kessler raised this possibility in 1978, and it is more relevant than ever. Moreover, on February 10, 2009, the commercial satellite Iridium 33 was hit head-on by the abandoned Russian satellite Kosmos 2251. At a speed of nearly 40,000 km/h, the shock was brutal. This type of incident multiplies the number of debris in orbit and thus creates a chain reaction which would endanger all satellites, and even the International Space Station. A single bolt traveling at 35,000 km/h could pierce the ISS. This is why the European Space Agency is adopting a zero debris policy from 2025. But one day, we will have to clean up these millions of pieces of space waste.
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