We, humans, are famously bad at cleaning up after ourselves, and like toxic traits into a new relationship, we’ve carried this habit with us to outer space.
Over the past 60 years, we’ve created so much space junk that we might unintentionally sabotage our dreams of space exploration and plunge ourselves into the dark ages.
What is Space Pollution?
Space pollution is the introduction of any waste material into space.
We call these waste materials, Space debris, and it could mean anything from pieces of a broken satellite to frozen pieces of astronaut pee.
When space debris starts orbiting the Earth, we call it Orbital debris.
How Bad is Space Pollution?
NASA estimates that there are more than 23,000 space debris pieces bigger than a softball, 500,000 pieces bigger than a marble, and more than 100 million pieces a millimetre big.
We keep adding to these numbers with every space launch. So much so that we project that the amount of space debris will increase ten times in the coming decade.
Why is it a Problem?
Satellites stay up because they are orbiting the Earth, and they don’t tidily float away or fall back to Earth when they decay. They continue to orbit Earth even in death. The same thing goes for spent boosters or any other space debris.
That’s bad because objects orbiting the Earth, especially those in the low earth orbit (LEO) — where most of our satellites are — move at speeds that can rival a speeding bullet. They’re so fast that they orbit the Earth in 2 hours or less.
Orbital debris is basically an out of control Lamborghini speeding down a highway with no brakes. Sooner or later, you’re going to break something. And it has, severally.
In 2016, the International Space Station (ISS) replaced a windowpane after a paint fleck struck it. In other cases, satellites have been rendered unusable after colliding with space debris.
To avoid these collisions, Satellites and space stations have to make Debris avoidance manoeuvres which is the space equivalent of weaving your car around potholes.
But debris avoidance manoeuvres are not a fool-proof solution. They are complicated and inefficient and can only help us avoid the debris we know of. Still, a lot more space junk goes unobserved.
Even when we find the debris, it might be too late to take any evasive action. When the ISS discovers debris that has come too close for evasive action, all it can do is evacuate the crew to the space shuttles and hope for the best.
Already, an average of 2 satellites are destroyed this way every year, and this number will only grow the more we travel into space.
The potential impacts of this are staggering. We might make space unusable for the many purposes we rely on, like the internet, GPS, weather, and asteroid tracking.
One theory — the Kessler syndrome — even suggests that we might have already created an irreparable problem that’s spun out of our control.
The Kessler Syndrome
Collisions in space happen very differently than collisions on Earth.
On Earth, when two objects collide, they transfer their kinetic energy into one another, which is what causes damage. When that kinetic energy is spent, both objects come to a stop.
In space, things happen a little differently. Since they are being pulled in orbit around the Earth, objects in space don’t stop when they collide. Instead, they spray right through each other and form a debris cloud made up of broken-up debris pieces.
The Kessler syndrome says that if we keep polluting space, we might create a collision cascade — a situation where space debris collides with functional space objects, creating more debris which will then collide with other functioning satellites and create even more debris, and on, and on and on, until, all our satellites are destroyed, and we’re trapped in a debris cage of our own making.
Space is very empty, and the chances of this happening are slim, but we are rapidly filling space with junk with every space mission. The amount of space debris is expected to grow tenfold by the next decade. That means more evasive manoeuvres, more collisions, and more chances to trigger a catastrophic collision cascade.
What is Causing Space Pollution?
Every time we go into space, something gets left behind; spent rocket boosters, tools, and, one time, a spatula. Some of these items renter our atmosphere and burn up, but most remain in orbit.
Satellites wear down, break apart and become defunct. These defunct satellites can crash into functional satellites, increasing space junk.
Anti-satellite weapon (ASAT) tests carried out by the USA, and the USSR in the sixties also added to the space junk. Recently Russia came under international fire for conducting an ASAT test which created more than 1,500 pieces of trackable debris.
Why is Space Pollution so Hard to Fix?
Even if we stopped all space activity right now, the amount of debris in space would still increase. That’s because collisions between debris pieces will continue to happen. We need active debris removal strategies, but most are still in the test phases and are very expensive. The cost of testing alone runs into the millions.
The space regulations are also hindering clean up efforts. There are no concrete provisions prohibiting pollution. Some parts of the law make it difficult to carry out clean up operations.
For example, according to Article VIII of the Outer Space Treaty, one country cannot clean up another’s space debris.
Space Debris Removal Ideas.
There have been many ideas of how to clean up space. Buckle up because some of them are pretty wild.
Space Nets
It’s like fishing but in space.
The idea is simple. Catch a piece of debris with a net and pull it down into Earth’s atmosphere, where it will burn up.
Companies like RemoveDebris have already begun experimenting with this idea and have successfully tested it in space.
Space Harpoons
I’m going to guess and say that the scientists who came up with these ideas really like fishing.
Again, the idea is simple. Shoot a harpoon into the space debris and drag it down into Earth’s atmosphere.
Magnets
One of the wilder theories is to deploy giant magnets into space. These magnets will push on the magnetic components of satellites and other debris and force them into the Earth’s atmosphere to burn up.
Lasers
Vaporize the junk!
Conclusion
So many parts of our lives depend on the technology we’ve put into space.
The Uber you took to work, the weather forecast you checked before planning your trip, and the internet you use to watch Tik Tok videos all rely on our satellite network to work. That technology is at risk of being blown away by space debris. If we don’t do something about it now, a few years down the line, we might suddenly find ourselves without it.
Whether we end up deploying giant nets or hosting a laser show in space, we need to do something now to keep space safe and useful to us.
Do you have any great ideas for how we can stop space pollution? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
