Space junk is causing problems — and experts think it’s just the start. Why it matters

High above the surface of our blue and green planet, millions of pieces of space debris zoom through Earth’s orbit at thousands of miles an hour.

NASA defines orbital debris as human-made objects in orbit that no longer serve a purpose, like a dead satellite.

“The congestion worsens each year,” NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office says.

As space debris increases, scientists are worried about collisions that could eventually clog up Earth’s orbit, posing a threat to astronauts, space missions and other satellites, according to NASA.

“Objects start colliding with other objects and cause more debris,” John Crassidis, a professor and space debris researcher at the University at Buffalo, told McClatchy News in a phone interview.

“If we start putting more stuff up there and stuff starts colliding, I truly believe — and I tell this to the elementary school and junior high school kids I talk to — that your generation is going to have to solve this problem,” Crassidis said.

First-of-its-kind fine

A record-setting stay in Earth’s orbit and a $150,000 fine to Dish Network might have something in common: space debris.

The Federal Communications Commission just fined Dish Network for violating “space debris rules” after the company failed to move its defunct satellite into a safe orbital range, the agency announced Oct. 2.

Although $150,000 likely won’t make much of a dent to Dish, which has a market value of more than $2 billion, the FCC has touted this first fine as a “breakthrough settlement.”

“As satellite operations become more prevalent and the space economy accelerates, we must be certain that operators comply with their commitments,” Enforcement Bureau Chief Loyaan Egal said in the statement.

A Dish spokeswoman told The New York Times that the satellite had been “explicitly exempted from the F.C.C.’s rule requiring a minimum disposal orbit,” though the company said it would comply with a minimal disposal orbit in 2012.

The FCC said the company failed to move the satellite to a higher orbit where it was less likely to pose a threat to other active satellites. The company said the satellite ran out of fuel, stopping about 110 miles short of its 186 mile relocation above geostationary orbit.

Bigger satellites like Dish’s are still part of the problem, Crassidis said, but space agencies have a way of tracking larger objects to avoid collisions. Smaller pieces of debris resulting from explosions or other events are harder to pin down.

“The big stuff we can easily track,” Crassidis said. “It’s the smaller stuff that we’re more worried about.”

He also referenced the catastrophic Iridium-Cosmos collision in 2009 between a defunct Russian satellite and an active American satellite. The collision created more than 1,800 pieces of space debris, according to NASA.

“Some debris from both satellites will remain in orbit through the end of the century,” NASA wrote in a report at the time. “The collision rate of one every five years will increase without future removal of large derelict spacecraft and launch vehicle orbital stages.”

Impact of collisions

Astronaut Frank Rubio just set the record for the longest single space flight by an American, hovering above earth’s surface for 371 days, according to NASA.

He and his crew mates returned to earth Sept. 27.

But Rubio wasn’t going for a record. He was going to come back to Earth six months earlier in a Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, but a coolant leak resulting from an external collision made his return on that vessel impossible, NASA said.

In a July news conference, Joel Montalbano, manager of NASA’s International Space Station program, said multiple agencies have looked into the cause of the leak.

“Today the conclusion of Roscosmos is that some type of external force was the (cause) of the leak, like some type of debris event,” he said.

Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, conducted a review as well and told McClatchy News in an email the result could have been a “sporadic meteoroid impact,” although it is difficult to confirm.

While astronauts aborted a planned spacewalk due to the leak and no injuries were reported, Crassidis said with an increase in space junk in orbit, the possibility for danger rises.

Russia and China have also blown up their own satellites, adding thousands of pieces of debris to Earth’s orbit, the Verge reported. This debris could make the future of space travel more precarious, Crassidis said.

How space debris could affect you

While space junk could pose a threat for astronauts and spacecraft, as well as ground-based astronomy, the average stargazer is also affected.

Some satellites are as bright as the brightest stars, Sky and Telescope reported, messing up pristine night sky viewing even in remote areas.

“Debris proliferation is of special concern,” scientists wrote in a study published in March. Debris adds to the “night sky radiance” that makes viewing the cosmos more difficult.

“Space and dark skies represent an intangible heritage that deserves intentional preservation and safeguarding for future generations,” scientists wrote.

Why scientists are worried

Crassidis and other scientists have raised warnings of a breaking-point situation called the Kessler Syndrome. In this state, Earth’s orbit becomes saturated with pieces of debris that begin to collide with one another, fragmenting into more and more pieces of debris that travel at high speeds, NASA reported.

“We (have) got to get through this debris field to get our astronauts to the moon and Mars and wherever else we want to go, so we’re going to put them in harm’s way,” Crassidis said. “It’s going to cause this cascading effect where low Earth orbit is going to be useless.

Once space junk is up there, it can be hard to get it down. NASA advises the best way to mitigate the issue is to prevent unnecessary debris from entering orbit to begin with. Attempts to remove the junk from orbit, other than letting some of it burn up in earth’s atmosphere, are extremely challenging.

“We just don’t have the technology, so that’s why I’m always advocating just try to mitigate the amount of debris you have right now,” Crassidis said. “Let the technology catch up before Kessler Syndrome becomes a reality.”

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