Space Junk Crisis

Hundreds of thousands of celestial bodies in orbit of the earth can collide with each other. Cleaning technology has not been agreed upon.

Rubber plantation in the village of Bukit Harapan IV, District Ketahun, North Bengkulu regency, to witness the fall of the CZ-3 rockets (Chang Cheng / Long March 3) belongs to the Chinese government. Luckily, on October 13, 2003, there were no residents on the estate.

But the fall of the rocket to make people panic. Understandably, the resonance is quite hard. Moreover, a month earlier, the Indonesian's National Aeronautics and Space Agency (Lembaga Penerbangan dan Antariksa Nasional - Lapan) issued an announcement's going to fall of the Italian BeppoSAX satellite. Fortunately, it's expired satellite crashed in the Pacific Ocean on September 30, 2003, after crossing the territory of Indonesia. In the world of space, Indonesia, located on the equator, into Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO). This is a privileged location due to the stability of the placement of satellite satellite position with less fuel so it became a bone of contention many countries to put its satellites.

Down to Earth ... space junk in USA

Because of its location, Indonesia should be grateful. But we should also be alert to the possible collapse of space junk at the Equator. The threat was the more alarming when reading the U.S. National Research Council report, issued last week. The institute noted 370 thousand of space junk floating in orbit of the earth. The remaining satellites or other space objects was milling around at speeds up to 22 thousand miles per hour. "We've lost control of this environment," said Donald Kessler, senior scientist at the U.S. space agency (NASA), who wrote the report.

Computer images are tracked pieces of space junk in orbit the Earth (taken from a different angle)

Of these, there were 22 thousand objects in orbit are large in size, as big as cars. The team of researchers led by Kessler create scenarios and computer modeling.

Former collision debris seen during the repair of the Hubble Space Telescope

In conclusion, orbital debris is already reaching a critical point. "That is, the number had reached the threshold, at which he would constantly collide with each other," the report prepared since April last.

Celestial body began to exist since Sputnik 1 was launched into space by the Soviet Union, 53 years ago. Starting 1960, there was an arms race in space between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Space debris timeline

After that begins the era of commercial satellites. In the last 10 years, satellite launches satellite industry average of 76 units per year. From the existing data, since 1957, there were 6,000 satellite was launched into space and 3,338 satellite still in operation and no longer active.

In the coming decades, the activity predicted to grow by 50 percent. Analysis of latest Euroconsult mention, 1,145 satellite will be built and started functioning in 2011 and 2020.

In addition to the inactive satellites, rocket bodies are 1,820 which is not functioning anymore. This plus 7,789 celestial body orbiting a metal flake the earth's orbit. Collision between satellites and rockets into the largest contributor of space junk.

Fractions formed are grouped in different sizes, namely smaller than 0.1 millimeters, between 0.1 mm and 1 inch, and between 1 and 10 cm. Small sizes can not be detected by radar and the number reached tens of millions.

Increasing the amount of waste going to cause a rise in the failure rate of the spacecraft reached Earth orbit. Also, it can hit the satellite and astronaut and International Space Station.

NASA is already taking action to reduce waste space, known by the name of the program Micrometeoroids and Orbital Debris (MMOD). From 1981 to 1991, the government of the United States began a program to reduce space junk.

They hope eventually there is international cooperation. But that desire is difficult and setbacks are met. Understandably, in 2007, China tested the weapon antisatelit. Two years later, the collision occurred Cosmos 2251 and Iridium 33 satellite in earth orbit.

Kessler noted the report, two events are increasingly adding a lot of space junk. Indeed, when China fired missiles into a weather satellite that is not used anymore, up 150 thousand pieces about the size of a centimeter and 3,118 other pieces can be tracked by radar from Earth. "Two events that wiped out everything we've done over the last 25 years," said Kessler. *** [UWD | DAILYMAIL | BBC | NASA | KORAN TEMPO 3639]