Waste in space

2002/05/17 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Astronautika
• Ingurumena

The long forgotten artificial satellites, the fragments of painting of the spacecraft sent ten years ago, the tools lost by astronauts, the trash bags of the Mir space station, and other objects circulate without stopping on us. It's a space garbage, and if it's not done something soon, satellites and future space expeditions will need a more adequate protection to avoid colliding with everything that's around the Earth.

It is said that the geostable orbit at 36,000 km of the terrestrial surface is full. They say that in 1957 there are 10,000 particles more than when the first satellite was launched. The most dangerous particles are those with a diameter equal to or greater than 10 cm, of which 9,000 are permanently controlled by radar. Many of them think they will turn for thousands or millions of years.

After 13 years, members of the International Agency for the Coordination of Space Garbage have signed an agreement to solve the problem of garbage. According to them, adding all floating objects would be very expensive, and the only thing that can be done at the moment is not to create more.