The vastness of space is a humbling reminder that humans are nothing but tiny, insignificant pieces in the large machine that is the universe.While we remember this every time we think of space, it does not mean humans have not had an impact on the things that exist in space. Humans have placed many objects in space that still exist today.This thirst and drive for exploration has been at the heart of what this article is about, space pollution. While you might think, if space is as enormous as it is, why does it matter if we litter it with tiny cogs and bits of metals? Space pollution has been at the heart of the exploration of space. With these chunks of debris flying in orbit, the equipment that is in orbit can be harmful. Satellites face damage from space junk that render the equipment useless.Threats exist to the solar panels that power these satellites, even from the tiniest shard of metal flying its way. This is because that a tiny shard is moving at high speed. Space junk seriously jeopardises the security of these satellites. Additionally, it causes difficulty for future exploration projects because satellites are in danger of being hit by space junk that could change how an entire mission pans out! Continue reading to find more details about the dangers space debris has presented in the past, and ways that space agencies deal with them!If you liked this article about space pollution, why not check these facts about beach pollution and air pollution on Kidadl!Major Accidents Caused By Space DebrisSpace debris has been responsible for creating a hostile space environment that has caused many accidents inside and outside of Earth’s atmosphere, and space trash continues to be a problem to space agencies around the world in their endeavours of exploration.One of the recent major accidents caused was the International Space Station orbiting the Earth that faced damage to one of its robotic arms after the spacecraft had an accidental collision with space debris. This accident highlighted the prominence of man-made debris in the lower orbit of Earth, left behind after years of defunct satellites and booster rockets traveling in orbit at extremely high speeds. The damage to the International Space Station was quickly diagnosed and repairs made to the spacecraft were efficient.One of the accidents caused by junk objects in space actually took place on Earth! A woman in Oklahoma was struck by woven material which was small debris from a spacecraft. Space debris was identified as part of the Delta 2 booster rockets of a spacecraft. Fortunately for the woman, she was not hurt or injured after being hit by one of these orbital objects.In one instance, debris from the one of the satellites of the Soviet Union made an atmospheric reentry in 1978. What made this incident especially frightening was the fact that the spacecraft contained a nuclear reactor. It crashed in the Canadian Arctic, and the USA and Canada helped in the mission to clear up the space garbage.A very large and prominent incident of space debris was during 2003. The space shuttle of Colombia did not survive reentry to the planet, killing the seven astronauts inside. The spacecraft left over 80,000 pieces of debris on the Earth’s surface, which were collected not only for safety reasons, but for research purposes in order to help future generations in dealing with debris in the low Earth orbit, as well as at higher altitudes.National And International RegulationCreating laws and regulations to deal with debris in outer space is difficult due to the fact that space does not belong to any country and counts as international waters.Creating a law for anything in space is not a national matter, and to explain how it would mean on Earth would be like creating a law for the Pacific Ocean. It is an international matter. There exists no law that prohibits the clean up of Earth’s orbit from debris. The objective remains that cleaning up space does not mean increasing space junk in order to reduce it. The United Nations created a committee dedicated to space, which has an objective in its administration to clean space debris and objects that are orbiting Earth.While creating debris in the orbit of the planet cannot be stopped entirely, laws have been established by a space administration to encourage responsible behavior. Any space objects, regardless of whether its functionality, must come under a register. This allows for a space agency such as the European Space Agency to account for all the objects that left Earth, and how many of those objects made it back to Earth from space.Under the regulations, it labels the activity of any country carrying out operations to clear space debris from any space shuttle, it would constitute as a national activity out in space. This makes it the country’s responsibility during conducting space junk cleaning activities from Earth’s orbit, even if they outsource this to a private firm. This encourages accountability, and countries cleaning space junk more liable to any space debris they end up creating in the process.Tracking And Removing Orbital DebrisThe tracking and removal of orbital debris has come under a newer Orbital Debris Program. Continue reading to find out more about this!The Orbital Debris Program has been in place by NASA in order to remove orbital debris and objects that are classified as space junk out of the lower orbits. This initiative aimed to reduce orbital debris and reduce space debris from the lower Earth orbit. It also aims to reduce the human impact of littering space with dead satellites that do not have any use, as they have been a large part of creating space junk.A Japanese company by the name of Astroscale aims to clear space debris by using magnets. The British ‘RemoveDEBRIS’ is a program that aims to use nets and harpoons. Nets have been a widely discussed avenue of clearing space junk. However, there is a problem that the debris can be as small as golf balls. The British effort has encouraged the European Space Agency to develop its own solution of creating a form of claw that would pick out space debris out of orbit.Environmental And Health ImpactsThe most important impact is perhaps not to outbound spacecrafts, but to the environment on Earth itself.Most space junk moves in the low Earth orbit, and the smaller bits will be burnt up upon reentry into Earth’s atmosphere. The larger chunks of debris fall from low orbit and land on Earth. Some of these contain fuel tanks that contain nuclear material. This has been evident with fallout from debris of the Russian proton rocket that landed in eastern and northern Siberia.Additionally, it may hinder the ability of our satellites from monitoring and predicting the weather. The density of the debris in orbit restricts weather satellites and does not let them map out accurate measures of pollution that takes place on Earth. It creates a half image that causes more problems than it solves.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked learning these space pollution facts then why not take a look at coal pollution facts, or car pollution facts.
The vastness of space is a humbling reminder that humans are nothing but tiny, insignificant pieces in the large machine that is the universe.
