Questions tagged [debris]
Questions about debris in space, often in Earth orbit. Usually referring to nonoperational man-made satellites or parts of satellites.
257
questions
11
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Why are we not seeing probability curves for space junk collision prediction?
Since many specific space junk collision risks have been assessed, why haven't we combined the data and graphed it? The trendlines could be very instructive. Like mapping climate change, the curve ...
- 111
11
votes
1
answer
285
views
How can I shield against micro-meteors?
It is well known that micro meteorites, space junk, and other small objects can put a dent (Or rip through) in a spacecraft quite effectively. How can I protect people, sensitive electronics, and ...
- 121k
11
votes
1
answer
3k
views
What would happened if the ISS was depressurized while astronauts were sheltering?
The International Space Station tries to maneuver to avoid debris, but sometimes (and it has actually happened) they discover something that could hit them too late to move, so they shelter in Soyuz ...
- 16.2k
11
votes
1
answer
306
views
How much is known about those liquid metal droplets orbiting the Earth? (e.g. sizes, composition, orbits...) Are any actually tracked?
The question Orbit Guardians - bs, right? mentions a company proposing a smallsat that will capture then give a roughly 200 m/s retrograde "kick" to liquid metal NaK alloy droplets in LEO ...
- 149k
10
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Collision with space junk - Where is it safe? Where is it most dangerous?
I spoke once with a USAF officer involved in keeping our satellites operational and in the proper orbit. He told me that satellites in geo-synchronous orbit are in little danger of colliding with ...
- 987
10
votes
1
answer
10k
views
What happens if an astronaut is hit by a tiny micrometeorite?
A micrometeorite (including space debris in LEO) hitting the metal wall of the ISS would likely cause a shower of secondary high speed fragments. But there are other "softer" materials proposed which ...
- 26.8k
10
votes
2
answers
386
views
What is being done to cleanup space of junk, particulary laws and litigation?
I know there will always be a risk of a strike in space but what is being done to combat the man made risk of debris from finished satellites? I read about a Swiss Organisation that is launching a ...
- 1,093
10
votes
1
answer
1k
views
What happens to waste on the ISS?
I was thinking, and those little plastic bags that hold the astronauts' food have to go somewhere. Where do they go? Are they compacted into a big cube like on WALL-E, and sent out into space, or are ...
- 18k
10
votes
3
answers
415
views
Would it be possible to alter the orbit of one satellite, with the exhaust plume of a rocket sufficient to deorbit it?
SpaceX plan to launch Starships towards Mars; many of them.
This will involve burning hundreds to thousands of tonnes of propellant in low(ish) orbit, since each may require several refueling steps.
...
- 1,072
10
votes
2
answers
888
views
Impact of space junk on Earth based space elevators
It is well known there is a lot a space junk orbiting the Earth. From previous questions posted on this site it appears that if it were possible to establish a space elevator cable for Earth it would ...
- 12.3k
9
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Why has Vanguard 1 not decayed significantly since its orbital injection in 1958?
Vanguard 1 became the first satellite to use solar panels as a power source in 1958, when it was launched into an orbit with the following parameters:
654 by 3,969 kilometres (406 mi × 2,466 mi), ...
- 8,821
9
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Are most Earth polar satellites launched to the South or to the North? And why?
Almost all satellites in LEO have been launched to the east, to take advantage of the Earth's surface rotational speed of about 5% of required orbital speed (Israel being a small exception for ...
- 26.8k
9
votes
6
answers
1k
views
Is it theoretically possible to dispose of the larger pieces of space junk into the Sun?
Space junk is a real threat to working satellites in the Earth's orbit. Is it theoretically possible to make this space junk escape from the Earth's gravity (by giving them some kinetic energy to ...
- 18.1k
9
votes
3
answers
17k
views
About how far was debris scattered from the Columbia incident?
Space Shuttle Columbia exploded during reentry due to missing heat shield tiles. When this happened, the shuttle would have had a great amount of speed, which would imply debris was strewn far down ...
- 18k
9
votes
1
answer
486
views
Propagation of pressure waves in low Earth orbit
So in a Wikipedia article about space debris I read that:
At higher altitudes, where air drag is less significant, orbital decay takes longer. Slight atmospheric drag, lunar perturbations, Earth's ...
- 965
9
votes
2
answers
377
views
What liability do commercial space firms have for abandoned space junk?
Until recently space travel has been something governmental entities take on. With commercial companies entering the foray, what liabilities are they accountable for in regards to the crap they leave ...
- 659
9
votes
2
answers
1k
views
How much of the space debris around Earth is man-made?
I know there are over 19000 objects tracked in Earth orbit. I'm wondering how much of it is:
Active man-made satellites that we currently use
Junk that we discarded or resulted from collisions ...
- 5,163
9
votes
4
answers
1k
views
Is there a database for space junk beyond Earth orbit, and is Roadster in it?
After a bit of low drama I've come to accept that Roadster is space junk and agree with this answer.
After reading this answer about space junk in orbit around Earth, I'd like to ask if there is a ...
- 149k
9
votes
1
answer
485
views
If Oumuamua was alien space-junk, what would it look like, and would we be able tell?
I'm interested in our recent interstellar visitor 'Oumuamua.
Whilst I'm happy to accept the official explanation of what it is, I'm curious about what state it would be in if it was actually alien ...
- 191
8
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Data on satellites and/or space junk
I am hoping to develop a program capable of predicting when a satellite will fly through the path of a telescope observation. The aim is to make it possible to block or mitigate the light from the ...
- 489
8
votes
3
answers
489
views
How would a laser "shoot down" space junk?
This question links to an article describing a ground-based laser designed for shooting down orbiting space debris:
"The scientists intend to use the massive soon-to-be-built telescope at the Altay ...
- 181
8
votes
2
answers
654
views
Harpooning satellites? Is this really the best way to get them under control?
above: GIF from Polular Mechanics which has been kindly modified here to be under 2 MiB.
Harpoons are effective when the target is out of reach, or moving too quickly to catch. Neither is generally ...
- 149k
8
votes
2
answers
1k
views
What will happen to the Russian messages flash drive?
I saw a video today of a flash drive being thrown into space from the ISS (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35487441).
What will happen to this flash drive? Will it burn up in the ...
- 183
8
votes
3
answers
2k
views
How are astronauts able to spacewalk in safety, despite all the debris?
This question was inspired by this other question and one of its answers. Essentially we have a lot of debris flying around in close proximity to Earth, and it is often going quite fast - fast enough ...
- 189
8
votes
2
answers
524
views
Is there any regulation against sending stuff to space that you don't need there, like the Tesla roadster?
Is there any regulation (or self-regulation) that would force space explorers to create as little debris as possible? The Tesla roadster in space seems to be only a PR-gag.
- 181
8
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Debris breaking away from Electron rocket [duplicate]
In this youtube video of Rocket Lab's Electron rocket launch we can see some debris breaking from the rocket. Besides the ice, there seems to be some sort of a black square-ish structure to the left ...
- 2,246
8
votes
3
answers
704
views
Power requirements for zapping debris with lasers from ISS
My understanding is that the ISS provides 75-90 kWatts of power, so enough power for a 1 second Megawatt pulse for zapping debris in about 15 seconds.
Question is: is this right, have I over looked ...
- 575
8
votes
2
answers
939
views
What happens to a spacecraft crashing into the Moon?
When planning a new architecture for lunar missions, one always faces the potential of nuclear thermal engines. Having a much higher $I_{sp}$, they offer a much higher propellant efficiency, causing a ...
8
votes
1
answer
101
views
Liquid micrometeorites compared to solids
I'm reading about the 30-or-so USSR RORSAT missions that had unshielded, fast spectrum, highly enriched Uranium nuclear reactors powering a satellite, which was later moved up to a higher "disposal" ...
- 16.2k
8
votes
1
answer
798
views
Why is space junk so persistent in LEO?
From a similar post: How much of a problem is space junk, and how can we clean it up?
I'm wondering why space junk seems to be ever-present. Most of it seems to be in low Earth orbit in the first ...
- 4,506
8
votes
2
answers
914
views
Debris in interstellar flight
If we are ever able to built a spacecraft that can travel near the speed of light, how can we make it to our destination in one piece? I mean at such speed a tiny tiny rock (even space dust?) would ...
- 81
8
votes
1
answer
437
views
Why are objects in this highly elliptical orbit present in Vimpel but not USSpacecom
This is a screenshot from AstriaGraph. It mixes data sources for objects in orbit from Spacetrack/USSpacecom and JSC Vimpel.
EDIT: I've created a separate question to split out the original two ...
- 9,209
8
votes
1
answer
149
views
Were there any extra objects in the latest Falcon 9 launch?
The previous launch of the Falcon 9 included a number of mysterious objects. Has there been any indication that the recent SES launch produced similar objects?
- 121k
8
votes
1
answer
171
views
Was the recent uncontrolled Chinese rocket de-orbit exceptional?
The recent (April 2021) Chinese CZ-5B rocket launch gained widespread media attention because the large launcher was designed to de-orbit in an uncontrolled fashion, and ultimately landed in the ...
- 353
8
votes
1
answer
164
views
How are current spacecraft tested for their impact durability?
I imagine the lift-off process itself puts a large amount of stress and strain on the rockets materials.
With the amount of debris up in space there is always the risk of rocks to collide with the ...
user106
7
votes
3
answers
1k
views
What happens to the parts of rockets after they burn up?
For some first stages and second stages, and some failed launches, their fate is to burn up in the Earth atmosphere. Once the stage has broken into thousands of smaller parts, aerodynamics changes. ...
7
votes
2
answers
453
views
ISS impacts by space debris
Is there something that tracks the locations of space debris impacts, and how big the debris or damage is?
- 79
7
votes
2
answers
505
views
What was the lifetime of the debris from the US Anti-satellite exercise for USA-193?
The United States shot down a satellite (USA-193) in low Earth orbit, with Hydrazine on board, to prevent a toxic disaster. They did it at low altitude to prevent long lived debris. Was such a ...
- 121k
7
votes
1
answer
482
views
What events caused this debris in highly elliptical orbits
This question has been developed from Why are objects in this highly elliptical orbit present in Vimpel but not USSpacecom which I realisd was two questions in one.
Here is the same graphic from ...
- 9,209
7
votes
1
answer
256
views
What are the effects of orbital reflectors and advertising on scientific observation?
There's a couple of startups and initiatives which are proposing "space billboards" which have been getting a lot of bad press recently. Most of the proposals involve a bunch of cubesats with large ...
- 16.7k
7
votes
2
answers
2k
views
What's this chunk that fell off Falcon 9 second stage?
Just after T+3 minutes during today's SES-11 launch I noticed a small chunk fall off the end of a "boom" on the Falcon 9 second stage.
What's the boom and what came ...
- 421
7
votes
1
answer
240
views
Regulation governing the use of ocean areas for the return of space objects?
What are the rules governing international use of water areas to dump used spacecrafts from orbit or launch trajectory.
(source: Wikipedia / Nasa)
This would apply to rocket stages, boosters, tanks, ...
- 4,983
7
votes
2
answers
183
views
Angle of meteoroid and debris strikes on ISS
Is it more likely for a space station like the ISS to suffer micro meteor and space debris strikes on the forward side as oppose to others? (it certainly seems less likely to get them on the underside....
- 4,824
7
votes
1
answer
319
views
What is a "critical mass" equivalent of number of satellites on LEO that would initiate chain reaction of destruction if 2 of them collide?
If a satellite is destroyed and blown to multiple small pieces of debris, each one of these pieces has tiny probability of destroying another satellite, creating more debris which now will have even ...
- 171
7
votes
2
answers
200
views
What is the optimum space junk to target for deorbiting?
The danger posed by space debris depends on the debris' mass, ballistic coefficient and orbit.
For a given mass of debris, a single large mass (like an intact dead satellite) poses a much smaller risk ...
- 15.3k
7
votes
1
answer
444
views
What was all of the junk in the SES satellite deployment?
In the SES launch on March 4, 2016, when the satellite deployed, there was quite a bit of junk that was released when the satellite was released. What was that?
- 121k
7
votes
0
answers
243
views
Does Privateer's tracking software Crow's Nest actually offer users something better than the previous state of the art?
CNN's Steve Wozniak's new venture takes aim at space junk discusses a project with Wozniak, Alex Fielding and Moriba Jah:
But the money, according to Wozniak's co-founder in this new venture, couldn'...
- 149k
6
votes
1
answer
424
views
What are the causes of breakups of spent 2nd and 3rd stages, resulting in orbital debris?
The HISTORY OF ON-ORBIT SATELLITE FRAGMENTATIONS 14th Edition mentions that there were some design issues with Delta 2nd stages, and an Ariane 3rd stage, leading to in-space explosions/breakup of the ...
6
votes
3
answers
453
views
Could we prevent a disaster if someone tried to send a rocket in retrograde GEO?
Let's say an evil dictator decide to deliver a payload to a retrograde "GEO" orbit.
I suspect the first inevitable collision would quickly produce a Kessler syndrome.
Is there anything that would ...
- 12.5k
6
votes
2
answers
333
views
How can space junk be dangerous at geosynchronous orbits?
At this orbit wouldn't all space junk be traveling at the same speed as the spaceship/satellite transversing it? To be dangerous it should be traveling at a much faster (or slower) rate than the ...
- 183