Space Debris

File photo of Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president and chief operating officer. Credit: NASA/Jay WestcottSpaceX could use its Starship vehicles to clear out space debris in Earth orbit, alongside the program’s more publicized purpose of ferrying people and cargo to the moon and Mars, a company executive said. Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s…

A discarded Chinese rocket stage and a Soviet-era satellite nearly collided over Earth overnight. The collision would have created a huge amount of new space debris and made our current space junk problem even worse. As we continue to launch more and more satellites, the potential for space junk to…

The round, led by venture capital firm AStart Co. Ltd., brings the total capital raised to date to US$191 million.Read More

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s new moonshot rules: No fighting and littering. And no trespassing at historic lunar landmarks like Apollo 11′s Tranquility Base.The space agency released a set of guidelines Tuesday for its Artemis moon-landing program, based on the 1967 Outer Space Treaty and other agreements. So far,…

by Jeff Foust — October 13, 2020 While the overall population of orbital debris continues to grow, a list of most dangerous debris is dominated by upper stages left behind in orbit. Credit: ESA WASHINGTON — While launch providers are doing a better job at disposing of upper stages left…

It’s Elon Musk. He’s the space guy. Photo: Getty Images Add another space show to the big pile of space shows. According to the Hollywood Reporter, HBO is developing a six-episode limited series called SpaceX, which will adapt the book Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic…

Earth is about to get a temporary mini-moon — and this one might be space junk. Researchers are tracking an object that looks like it will be captured by Earth’s gravity for just a few months this winter before safely heading back out into the Solar System. It might be…

by Debra Werner — October 6, 2020 A Europeanized Soyuz lifts off from French Guiana on Feb. 27, 2019, carrying the first six OneWeb satellites to orbit. Credit: Arianespace SAN FRANCISCO – Tracking and avoiding the growing debris field in low Earth orbit was clearly on the minds of speakers…

IBM has published two open-source artificial intelligence projects it hopes will help astronomers better deal with space junk – and encourage startups to circle Earth with swarms of CubeSats. The Space Situational Awareness (SSA) project looks at anthropogenic space objects (ASOs), the fancy term for stuff humans have lobbed into…

SpaceX discovered unexpected erosion on its Crew Dragon spaceship's heat shield after its first astronaut mission. A SpaceX executive said the crew members — the NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley — were never in danger. But as a precaution, SpaceX updated the heat shield ahead of its next…