The sky is becoming more cluttered with satellites and space junk. This is affecting astronomical study, but will only have a minor effect — if any — on the viewing of the solar eclipse.
Ewan Wright, University of British Columbia and Andrew Falle, University of British Columbia
Countries have submitted applications for hundreds of thousands of new satellites to be launched. The scale poses challenges for overcrowding orbit, with environmental and safety challenges.
Earth’s orbits are getting more and more crowded. To keep track of everything and avoid collisions and catastrophes, we need a new field: space domain awareness.
Treaties meant to ensure sustainability in space don’t currently regulate private companies, and not every country has signed on to an agreement for sustainable space exploration.
A mysterious hunk of space junk buzzed through Australian skies last night. It may have been the third stage of a Soyuz 2 rocket just launched by Russia.
Rockets used to launch satellites fall back to Earth, and as their number grows, the risk faced by people living on the ground — or flying in airplanes — increases.
With more than 100 lunar missions planned in coming years, space junk near the Moon could become an issue for humanity. No agency tracks lunar space junk, so two astronomers decided to do it themselves.
Ralph Cooney, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
To date, not a single orbiting object has been recovered from space successfully. But several methods are in development to reduce the overpopulation of Earth’s orbit by man-made debris.
Russia’s testing of an anti-satellite weapon risked the life of astronauts on the International Space Station and could have astronomical impacts on Earth.
Pierre Omaly, Centre national d’études spatiales (CNES)
A Russian satellite has been destroyed in a missile strike, creating a vast amount of debris that joins the tens of thousands of pieces already in orbit around the Earth.
Russia destroyed one of its old satellites during a successful test of an anti-satellite weapon. A space security expert explains what this weapon was and the dangers of the expanding debris field.
Chances are small that space junk will destroy property or harm a person, and existing space law could deal with such an event. But current law doesn’t address the bigger problem of space pollution.
China’s Long March 5B rocket, after a successful blast-off in April to deliver a space station module, is now on track to crash-land somewhere with a latitude between New York and New Zealand.