as dead as me It was a 2003 series that began with the death of a girl who fell on the toilet seat on the International Space Station (ISS). Logically, this is a humorous story with many unlikely scenes. Something like this is unlikely to happen. But what about space debris? We know this could be dangerous for the satellites or for the ISS itself, but could it also affect those of us who live on Earth?
Well, so far only one case of a fragment of this debris hitting a person is known. Luckily, he survived to tell the story, but the next victim might not be so lucky. And the worst thing is that, according to a study recently published in Astronomy of nature, the likelihood of something like this is getting higher and higher. So much so that in the next decade 10% chance that a person can be hit by a piece of space debris.
space companies, public or private, are aware of this problem. Some are already trying to reduce the amount of space debris they throw out, but this is still not enough. In any case, as the authors of this study cite, based on University of British Columbia, it would be much more profitable for them to compensate the victims than to look for ways to control the debris that could reach them. It’s pretty hard that the situation is like this, and the worst thing is that in this case it’s not a TV series.
The dangers of space debris
Space debris is a collection of man-made objects found thrown into spacemainly in earth orbit. It can be, for example, fragments of rockets that were used to launch satellites, probes and all kinds of ships into orbit. Or also all those items that at some point had a function, but fell into disuse.
Previously, there were very few of them. However, given the great strides made by the space race, the amount of space debris reaches dangerous limits. Without going into details, in 2021 the crew of the International Space Station had to take shelter from the debris ejected after a Russian rocket hit a satellite.
But just as debris can impact space, it can also pose a hazard when it returns to Earth. As a rule, when they pass through the atmosphere, they burn up and break up into much smaller fragments, which should not be a problem. They tend to fall into the ocean. After all, three-quarters of the surface of our planet is covered with water. But they could fall on the Earth, especially in settlements. Some material damage has already been done. For example, in 2020, a Long March rocket launched by China’s National Space Administration hit Ivory Coastdamaging several buildings. It is now feared that it could also harm humans or other living beings.
Anxious Percentage
A newly published study was conducted trend analysis both in the growth of the world’s population and in the increase in space debris in orbit. Considering how often uncontrolled reentries occur, when modeling them, they concluded that there is a 10% chance any person affected by space debris in just a decade.
Interestingly, the people who will be most at risk are those who live in Southern Hemisphere. And it is that, despite the fact that the US, Russia and China are responsible for most launches, uncontrolled re-entries will mostly occur very far from there.
Some companies, for example SpaceXare already testing the use of reusable missiles in their launches. This not only reduces the amount of space debris left in orbit, but also serves to control where the debris falls. That doesn’t mean it’s a junk free company, just look at the astronomers’ complaints about its mega constellations of satellites. But this partially reduces the amount of debris that can return to Earth.
The truth is, one way or another, you can try to control these re-entries. However, doing so would be very expensive. Therefore, according to the calculations of the authors of the just published study, it would be much more profitable pay compensation hit victims, if necessary. Hopefully one day a cheap way will be found to avoid this problem. Since everything seems to be driven by money, this is the best hope we have left.
Source: Hiper Textual
