Posted on 03/20/2021 8:48:01 AM PDT by BenLurkin
This debris is composed of parts of old satellites as well as entire defunct satellites and rocket bodies. The debris poses risks to the International Space Station and threatens things we take for granted on Earth -- weather forecasting, GPS and telecommunications. It's a problem that's getting worse with more and more satellites being launched each year by ventures like Elon Musk's SpaceX.
A demonstration mission to test new technology developed by the company Astroscale to clean up space debris is set to launch in the early hours of Saturday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
A Soyuz 2 rocket will launch a 175-kilogram spacecraft with a satellite attached into space. The spacecraft and the 17-kilogram satellite -- the debris to be cleaned up -- will separate and then perform a high-stakes game of cat and mouse over the next few months.
Astroscale will test the spacecraft's ability to snatch a satellite and bring it down toward the Earth's atmosphere, where it will burn up. It will do this in a series of different maneuvers, with the mission expected to end in September or October of this year.
As part of the mission, the company will test whether the spacecraft can catch and dock with the satellite as it tumbles through space at up to 17,500 miles per hour -- several times faster than the speed of a bullet.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
And if the EPA was around a hundred years ago would there be an automobile?
How much of those space craft and debris are ferrous?
Plenty of Hamms cans floating out there. I always thought some sort of trawling net would be okay.
Not very much. Mostly titanium and aluminum. I think this is a cover for experimenting with anti-satellite warfare systems.
A Russian satellite cleaner... what could go wrong?
That was always my guess
Quark...
What percentage of space junk is made out of iron? I was under the impression that iron was heavy
Is that new space junk project named in honor of Kommie-la Harris?
Since space stuff almost always has a keen eye on weight, wouldn’t most of the space junk be aluminum?
Sometimes knowledge sucks the fun out of things;
https://www.grunge.com/268617/the-truth-about-roadrunners-and-coyotes/
That may well be. That said, space junk is a real problem. It does a complete orbit of the earth in 90 minutes, with velocity like that just imagine the momentum even a small screw has behind it if it strikes another object.
Back when we actually had a space program, they would examine the Space Shuttle after every mission for microsatellite damage.
Most of the divots in the windshield turned out to be paint flecks.
So yeah, your point is well taken.
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