Dealing with space junkSome scientists believe that at some time in the future there will be so much junk orbiting the Earth that it could would tear apart any spacecraft that tries to leave our planet.
At present there is no successful method for completely removing space junk. To minimise the amount of junk generated in space and reduce littering space:
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Space JunkSpace junk is made up of both natural (meteoroid) and artificial (man-made) pieces. Meteoroids are in orbit about the sun, while most artificial junk orbits around the Earth.
In late 2013 NASA estimated there were more than 500,000 pieces of sizeable “space junk” orbiting the Earth. There are many millions of pieces of debris that are so small they can’t be tracked. Space junk is made up of spent rocket stages, old satellites and fragments from disintegration and collisions. It also includes tools etc. which have been discarded from missions, and tiny bits of metal and paint. The increasing amount of space junk increases the potential danger to all space vehicles, including space shuttles and other spacecraft with humans aboard. Space junk can travel at speeds up to 17,500 mph, fast enough for even a small piece of junk to damage a satellite or a spacecraft. NASA takes the threat of collisions with space junk seriously and has set of guidelines on how to deal with each potential collision threat. |