Space Junk Threat Earth Orbit: Will space junk be the biggest threat in the future? Know what is this?

New Delhi: As space research progresses, the threat to life on Earth becomes greater. By exploring space we are increasing a problem which may become a major crisis for the Earth in the future. This orbit has become even more intense recently after a large communications satellite fell out of orbit and now wanders in Earth's orbit as space debris.

The world's space age began in the 1950s when the Soviet Union launched the world's first satellite, Sputnik 1. Since then, thousands of rockets and satellites have been launched around the world, thousands of which are no longer operational but still floating in Earth orbit. The surprising thing is that the amount of debris in space is increasing with every new day.

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world space age

Space junk refers to artificial satellites and rockets that have been launched into space but are currently no longer functional and in orbit. It also includes the remains of space missions that failed or ended after their deadlines. For example, Sputnik, the Soviet Union's first artificial satellite in 1957, is still orbiting Earth as space debris. Along with this, there is also man-made debris left by astronauts on the Moon.

Nia's space age began in the 1950s when the Soviet Union launched the world's first satellite, Sputnik 1

Satellites are continuously being destroyed

The larger failed communications satellite was called Intelsat 33E, which provided broadband communications from an altitude of about 35,000 km over the Indian Ocean around the equator. On October 20, there was a sudden power failure. The US Space Force later confirmed that the satellite had broken into 20 pieces. However, this is not the first time this has happened. Even before this, satellites have been continuously destroyed.

According to reports, there are about 13,000 tons of man-made debris present in space. About a thousand of it was trash, that is. The rest of the rocket contains more than 4,000 tons of debris. However, it is not yet known how dangerous this space debris is.

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Know how this will end

An attempt has been made to consider the potential amount of space debris. Specifically, the United Nations required all space companies to deorbit their satellites within 25 years of completing their missions. However, this is difficult because such tricks are not known yet. Companies around the world are continuously working in this direction. Their attempt is to destroy the dead satellite by launching it into the atmosphere. For this purpose, methods like capture, catching with large magnets or burning in space are being investigated. In 2018, Surrey Satellite Technology also attempted to capture space debris online.