EMF
100 kW
In light of the weeks news of the derelict Soviet satellite colliding with a privately owned communications satellite and the resulting debris....I was curious and clicked on another story that had this drawing. In it, we can see the growing amount of space trash that is littering the skies above our our planet in long term orbit. For instance, it is my understanding from reading the article, that the debris from this latest collision should be able to remain in orbit for 10,000 years. Due to this situation, possibly, we will need to create a new bureaucracy soon, according to radio reports, that will institute a space "traffic control". Worlwide meetings are already scheduled for later this year.
While listening to the radio report on NPR, I was able to learn that any object that is at least the size of a baseball can and is being tracked. This is impressive indeed, but we can only imagine how much other shards are up there that we know nothing about. When they are whizzing along at orbital speeds, it does not take much mass to ruin your day.
The problem of the growing clutter is greater than I was aware of, as again on the radio report, they stated that NASA has rated the debris poses a greater risk now for the Shuttle, than either launch or re-entry!
Now, that is bad.
While listening to the radio report on NPR, I was able to learn that any object that is at least the size of a baseball can and is being tracked. This is impressive indeed, but we can only imagine how much other shards are up there that we know nothing about. When they are whizzing along at orbital speeds, it does not take much mass to ruin your day.
The problem of the growing clutter is greater than I was aware of, as again on the radio report, they stated that NASA has rated the debris poses a greater risk now for the Shuttle, than either launch or re-entry!
Now, that is bad.