Terrifying Orbital Debris: A Map of Space Junk Orbiting Earth

It is hard to believe that there is a huge amount of space debris floating above our heads, and all these “time bombs”, as some of them call it, have been stuck in low Earth orbit in less than 75 years.

And with more and more satellites being launched every day, it’s becoming clear why governments and space agencies around the world are panicking. It only goes in one direction – andinteractive map Horror reveals the scale of the problem. That’s why space powers are hastily drafting treaties while pioneering startups are trying to come up with smart ways to get rid of all the debris left over from sending probes and satellites into space since the 1950s.

The map, produced by LeoLabs satellite observation and collision detection, shows space debris currently orbiting the Earth in real time.

Details are given in terms of the missile’s fuselage name, payload, and debris.

And LeoLabs uses ground-based phased array radars — one in Alaska, one in Texas, two in New Zealand, and two in Costa Rica — to monitor low Earth orbit.

This allows the Californian company to track and measure any object that passes through its surveillance area.

The tracking system is also capable of detecting objects up to 2 cm across, as opposed to objects larger than 10 cm.

Scroll through the world, zoom in and out to see debris floating above your country.

The United States has been found to be the country responsible for most of the debris, which is not surprising given NASA’s success in rocket launches and research, and the growing number of private US companies such as SpaceX that are launching satellites into space. . It has 8,497 objects such as rocket fuselages, payloads and debris in low Earth orbit, according to LeoLabs. It is followed by Russia at 4836, followed by China at 4047.

And the data shows that more than half of all collisions between objects in close orbit are caused by Starlink satellites – even though only 4,000 of the 12,000 planned are currently launched. He also applied for approval to add another 30,000 on top of that.

Scientists warn that there is a 10 percent chance that someone will be injured or killed by a spacecraft or a spent rocket within the next decade.

Therefore, swift action is needed to clean up the Earth’s orbit, as well as to ensure that future projects reduce their impact through recyclable manufacturing, satellite recovery, and the elimination of any debris.

The European Space Agency estimates that some 15,430 satellites have been launched into orbit since 1957, of which 10,290 are still in space and 7,500 are operational.

The total mass of all objects in orbit is about 10,800 tons, and statistical models indicate the presence of 130 million fragments of debris ranging in size from 1 mm to 1 cm.

Source: Daily Mail

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