SPACE DEBRIS

Problems, Risks Posed,

Addressing the
Problem,possible solutions
TANVEER
SHAIKH

A Greener Planet?
Every year, in almost every country
around the world, people do their part to
clean up our Earth.
Recycling programs are everywhere, and
whether our involvement is large or
small, we all contribute to help make our
home a better place.
But what about our Earths home? Who
is looking out for outer space?

WHAT IS SPACE DEBRIS?

Space debris is also called orbital

debris, space junk and space waste.

They can include anything from entire

used rocket stages and defunctioning
satellites to explosion fragments,
paint flakes, dust, slag from solid
rocket motors, coolant released by
RORSAT also known in the west as
Radar Ocean Reconnaissance
Satellite,nuclear powered satellites,
deliberate insertion of small needles,
and other small particles from
equipment.

Why is this bad?

Sandblasting or erosive damage, can
occur on objects that are both being
used and unused when they come into
contact with clouds of very small
particles in space.
Collisions can be highly damaging to
functioning satellites due to the
extremely high orbital velocities at
which this junk travels. Some debris
has been recorded moving along at
17,500 mph! Collisions are also known
to produce even more space debris.

Much About Space Debris

22000 pieces of space junk
in space.
Pieces of 4 inches or longer
combined weigh 5500 tons
Solar flare-ups can cause
space junk
Every 11 years Flare-ups
turn communication
satellites into space junk

BEFORE.. AFTER

Space is Running Out in Space

Space is more and
more crowded resulting
in collisions between
spacecraft, satellites
and junk.
Need air traffic control
May take a major
collision to get
countries to work on
this

Unplanned Spacewalk to Target Solar-Panel

Problem

Astronauts working on equipment run

risk of getting hit by space junk
Spacesuit could get pierced and lose air.
Spacewalks last from 5-7 hoursmaking
risks great

Much Ado About Space Debris

50 years ago: no space junk
Now: 25,000 pieces to the size of
baseball or larger
10,000 have re-entered the Earths
atmosphere
Most space junk burns on the way to
Earth
Junk is potentially harmful if it doesnt
burn before hitting the Earth
Junk could hit spacecraft

What Was that Light in the Sky?

One night an eyecatching flashed
across the night sky
Fireball
NORAD tracks pieces
of space junk
including screwdrivers
and astronaut gloves.
They determined that
it was not space junk

Litter Kings
U.S. produced 3,176 pieces of
space junk that are in orbit
Russia produced 2,917 pieces
China has produced 1,822
pieces
85% of new junk will orbit 100
years laterSpent Rocket
boosters are difficult to
eliminate
Soviet Space Station junk from
cosmonauts could have been
stopped.
Several countries have caused
space junk

One Giant Skip for Mankind

Space travel has

turned the universe
into a dump
Junk increasing
Many sources

Possible Solutions
Alternate Orbit:

Sometimes it would require too much

fuel to de-orbit a satellite from its path.
In these cases, it can also be brought to
an orbit where atmospheric drag would
cause it to de-orbit after some years.
This has been done! The French Spot-1
satellite, brought its time to
atmospheric reentry down from an
estimated 200 years to about 15 years.

MORE SOLUTIONS
When a satellite has completed its
task, it could be brought back down
to Earth where it could be properly
disposed of and/or recycled.
This could be done with the use of a
"terminator tether," also called an
electro-dynamic tether that is
rolled out, and slows down the
spacecraft.

ACTIVE DEBRIS REMOVAL

TECHNIQUES
This kind of Roger use
throw-nets to capture its
target, and it has 20 nets.

ACTIVE DEBRIS REMOVAL TECHNIQUES

It uses tentacles to
capture targets. If
there is an
incapacitated
SATELLITE the
ROGER spacecraft
will approach the
malfunctioning
The satellite will be
captured by the fingers and
satellite with its
boom and deploy IT. then towed away .

Electrodynamic tethers
project
HOW IT WORKS.

The technical challenges

the ability to safely capture a target
the number of target satellites within a
multiple target mission is limited
control both the ROGER satellite and
the tandem "ROGER plus target
satellite"
the supervision, control and eventually
tele-manipulation of ROGER from
ground

The number of space debris increases very

quickly .

CONCLUSION
Is space debris just
another over hyped
scientific issue, or could
this really become a larger
problem in the future?
Should we leave it all up
there, or take the time and
money to bring it down?

THANK YOU.

Refrence:
http://www.nasa.gov/
http://www.space.com/spacew
atch/space_junk.html
http
:/www.space.com/scienceastro
nomy/planetearth
/space_junk_