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Space Junk

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by HariLakhera, Jun 27, 2018.

  1. HariLakhera

    HariLakhera Platinum IL'ite

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    Space Junk

    While we are still struggling to handle the junk on planet earth, more than 600,000 pieces of junk are hurtling above and around the planet at a speed 10 times faster than a bullet. The flow of objects ranging from flecks of metal the size of paint chips to 8-ton rocket stages has to be managed . It will grow as the cost of launching satellites decreases and more players enter the commercial space market. Former NASA shuttle astronaut George Zamka in 2014 said during his two space missions- we flew upside down and backwards to protect our shuttle windows from orbital debris. And even doing so, we had debris strikes and cracks in our windows.

    Think, before you book your space ticket. !!!!
     
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  2. goldenhoney87

    goldenhoney87 Silver IL'ite

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    Very much true. The space station gets hit alot by this random flying stuff out there which is dangerous.The consequences can be very severe when the astronauts space suit/face gets hit by this debris when they do the space walk in cold, inhospitable, radiation-infested barren vacuum.
    Right from rodents to space nothing is left for the sake of contribution to science.
    It’s going to be a whole lot easier to make this planet habitable than it will be ever to make Mars like Earth.
     
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  3. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Human beings will be exterminated by their own junk within and without. I understand that only cockroaches will survive the Holocaust!
     
  4. goldenhoney87

    goldenhoney87 Silver IL'ite

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    The Moon is already strewn with rubbish - exploration has left its surface dotted with everything from abandoned modules to golf balls to an empty vomit bag from Apollo 11.
    At the end the space litter, lunar litter and earth litter is going to be too high a price to pay
     
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  5. kkrish

    kkrish IL Hall of Fame

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    Satellite debris is unfortunately the price we pay for the multitude of benefits we enjoy on terra firma.

    We are able to sit here and type all this and learn about satellite debris only because of the satellites out up there.
    Unfortunately, satellites life span are not more than average of 12-15 years, due to extremely harsh conditions in outer space. We watch global TV, have cheaper phone calls, able to predict natural disasters and take preventive measures, and so much more.

    Satellites have become a necessity for our current world and there is no going back.

    Currently DoD’s Space Surveillance Network tracks discrete objects as small as 2 inches (5 centimeters) in diameter in low Earth orbit and about 1 yard (1 meter) in geosynchronous orbit (info from www.nasa.gov). There i s one more object they have to track now - the Tesla car.

    However, it is the untrackable objects that still pose a serious threat to safety. Yes, the tiniest debris, like peeled paint, also poses a threat to safety of spacecraft and astronauts.

    The space agencies are aware of the threats and are taking steps to minimize space junk.
    The major steps that are being explored currently are:
    • Trying to build satellites that can perform for longer periods of time, thus reducing the need to replace dead satellites frequently.
    • To bring down large pieces of junk back to Earth in a controlled manner
    A "Remove Debris" spacecraft was just deployed a few days ago from the ISS to study how space junk can be removed.
    More on that in this article: Space junk clean-up demonstrator deployed from space station – Spaceflight Now
     
    Last edited: Jun 28, 2018
  6. kkrish

    kkrish IL Hall of Fame

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    You seem unhappy about space exploration. :)
     
  7. goldenhoney87

    goldenhoney87 Silver IL'ite

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    :smile: since yesterday started reading about ENDURANCE authored by Scott Kelly, American astronaut.Before that did a small home work on astronauts life, psychology and space accidents.
    May be that influenced me to talk to talk about space junk.Otherwise i knew nothing about it:mask:.
     
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  8. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    In my honest opinion, chances of human beings becoming extinct here in earth like Dinosaurs is brighter because of what we do to this planet than dying when we are in the space or on earth facing the menace of debris.

    Viswa
     
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  9. HariLakhera

    HariLakhera Platinum IL'ite

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  10. kkrish

    kkrish IL Hall of Fame

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    Respected Sir.

    I am not justifying global warming at all!
    In fact I am one who recycles, composts, doing everything in my capacity to reduce my carbon footprint. But I also know that this is not at all enough.

    It is like pouring a cup of sugar in the ocean and hoping the waters will turn sweet.

    What I mentioned in my response is my pragmatic acceptance of the inevitable. That is, the fact the we humans cannot go back to living without technology, or even agriculture. The only way to cool our planet is to replace all the trees we've been cutting down since thousands of years ago when we became agriculturists, and to going back to living as hunters and gatherers.
    But is that going to happen? No sir.

    The Earth also is trying its best to adjust the temperature by many means. It is amazing and very interesting learning about what all the Earth does.

    These are other possible ways we can become extinct:
    • An asteroid impact.
    • The Earth's rotation is slowing down every year and at one point we may all be thrown out, when the speed cannot generate enough gravity.
    • The moon is moving away. This also means other calamities to wipe us out
    • The sun is expanding and one day Earth will cease to be in the "Goldilocks" zone.
    • Just natural slowing down of our birth rate. Millions of species had existed and gone extinct before us, and we could also naturally cease existence.
     
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