Space Debris
What is it?
Space debris includes man-made and natural orbiting or incidental objects that typically lack navigational control.
While we may be accustomed during our travels on our Nation’s highways to observe seemingly innocuous objects lying in highway culverts across America such as broken hubcaps, fenders, tires, and other vehicle parts, as well as garbage, stones, animals, fallen branches, these can be relatively harmless in this earthly environment for vehicle travel at relatively low travel speeds. In space, however, the relative velocities between a vehicle and incidental debris or other object are much higher and pose a much greater danger if a collision occurs.
A primary issue with orbital debris is that it moves extremely fast and possesses significant kinetic energy. In low Earth orbit (altitudes lower than 2,000 km), the average impact velocity is greater than 20,000 mph and, as a result, even small, lightweight debris can have significant consequences to operating space-borne devices, including human-occupied vehicles. NASA has often had to replace windows and other parts of space assets due to damage by small particles upon return to earth. Damage to persistent orbiting satellites or vessels would be much more difficult to repair in situ. Punctured vessels and spacesuits pose imminent dangers and larger energy collisions can have a catastrophic effect.
A Growing Problem
During the early days of the world’s space program, early spacecraft faced little threat of collision with orbiting man-made objects. With the burgeoning interest in space from around the globe, nations and private parties are increasing the material that is placed in orbit.
While some objects will de-orbit, either through human intervention, or natural decay, a major contributor to this dilemma has been break-up of objects. To date, more than 200 breakups and 60 collision events have occurred in which debris objects have multiplied from an orbiting object. Many more will occur beyond the writing of this narrative. Breakups can result from explosions to collisions to detonations to failure events. The causes of approximately 22% of observed breakups are unknown.
As of August 2021, more than 330 million pieces of debris smaller than 1 cm (0.4 in), about 1 million pieces from 1-10 cm, and around 36,500 pieces larger than 10 cm were estimated to be in orbit around the Earth.[1]
An even greater challenge to detect and catalog objects exists in High Earth Orbit. At distances at or above geocentric orbits above the altitude of geosynchronous orbit 35, 786 km (22,240 miles). It is presently not possible to track smaller objects (<1m) with accuracy, and it is difficult to make timely adjustments to existing spacecraft for collision avoidance.
GuardianSat™ provides solutions to these challenges.
[1] Space debris by the numbers. (2021). European Space Agency. https://www.esa.int/Safety_Security/Space_Debris/Space_debris_by_the_numbers
Inadequate Risk Management
Thousands of Bunker Busters and One Million Hand Grenades in Earth’s Orbit with No Tracking
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Currently Tracked
>10cm: 29,200
10cm - 1cm: NO TRACKING
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Estimated Objects
>10cm: 36,500
10cm - 1cm: 1 Million
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Possible Damage
~10cm: Bunker Buster
~1cm: Hand Grenade