There’s so much debris in orbit from our space programs, it’s starting to form an entire layer around the planet. The risk of collision from this debris is constsntly growing.
Kessler Syndrome. The worst part is that, at some point, the risk of collision becomes so great that the problem becomes self-perpetuating, further increasing the risk until we can’t leave Earth anymore.
Would it not be self-correcting in the end? The various bits of debris that form the Kessler cloud would collide so much that they would eventually fragment into little more than dust, or lose enough energy that they are no longer in a stable orbit.
There’s no appreciable drag up there, so if it’s in orbit it’s going to be in orbit for a while, regardless of how big or small it is. Is the amount of energy lost to ripping the debris apart enough to eventually de-orbit the object? I honestly don’t know. My immediate thought is no, barring outside factors, because if it did spacecraft would be torn apart during their de-orbit burns; but I honestly can’t get my brain around that well enough to be certain (maybe the longer time a spacecraft takes de-orbiting reduces the stresses that a piece of space junk suffers instantly).
The kind of crazy thing is that, if a 1,000kg satellite orbiting at an altitude of 36km and a speed of 11,000kph breaks into a thousand pieces, each of those 1kg pieces are still traveling at an altitude of 36km and a speed of 11,000kph.
Kolanaki@pawb.social 14 hours ago
There’s so much debris in orbit from our space programs, it’s starting to form an entire layer around the planet. The risk of collision from this debris is constsntly growing.
CookieOfFortune@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
But there’s really not that much debris. Certain orbits can get packed but there’s plenty of availability. Also stuff in LEO deorbits pretty fast.
ilinamorato@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
Kessler Syndrome. The worst part is that, at some point, the risk of collision becomes so great that the problem becomes self-perpetuating, further increasing the risk until we can’t leave Earth anymore.
T156@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
Would it not be self-correcting in the end? The various bits of debris that form the Kessler cloud would collide so much that they would eventually fragment into little more than dust, or lose enough energy that they are no longer in a stable orbit.
ilinamorato@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
There’s no appreciable drag up there, so if it’s in orbit it’s going to be in orbit for a while, regardless of how big or small it is. Is the amount of energy lost to ripping the debris apart enough to eventually de-orbit the object? I honestly don’t know. My immediate thought is no, barring outside factors, because if it did spacecraft would be torn apart during their de-orbit burns; but I honestly can’t get my brain around that well enough to be certain (maybe the longer time a spacecraft takes de-orbiting reduces the stresses that a piece of space junk suffers instantly).
The kind of crazy thing is that, if a 1,000kg satellite orbiting at an altitude of 36km and a speed of 11,000kph breaks into a thousand pieces, each of those 1kg pieces are still traveling at an altitude of 36km and a speed of 11,000kph.