More Space Junk
A couple of years ago I wrote an entry about old Russian satellites leaking oil and the possibility that there was enough space junk out there that a chain reaction of collisions would eventually render space unusable.
This week, The New York Times reports that mankind just took one giant leap closer to that future when China tested an anti-satellite weapon against one of its old weather satellites. With 10,000 objects being tracked that are 4 inches are larger, China just added another 1,000 with all the debris from this weapon and the satellite that it struck. What is worse is that they chose a satellite with a fairly high orbit, well above the orbit of the space station. But that means the debris will be in orbit for many more years and eventually will threaten the low orbit where we built the space station.
Space.com also reported on the same issue, with more technical detail.
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Comments (1)
I think we are wasting most of the money we spend on space because I don't think it leads us anywhere. Space is vast and empty with an occassional rock or chunk of gas that offers little promise.
I'm against manned trips to Mars (at least based on any technology we can currently afford.)
I do support weather satellites, GPS, XM Radio, and Hubble. The robots on Mars have been fascinating, but even that is because how long they have lasted over what they have found (that we can leverage in any way.)
I hope the space junk can be tracked to the country of origin, so that if it damages our weather, GPS, etc. satellites, we can send them a bill (and vice versa.)
Posted by Jeb | February 8, 2007 8:13 PM