Space Debris

by Sandra Erwin — July 27, 2021 The main cause of in-orbit explosions is related to residual fuel that remains in tanks or fuel lines once a rocket stage or satellite is discarded in Earth orbit. Credit: ESA Astroscale: 'We are considering future opportunities that could include joint technology development…

The Oort cloud represents the very edges of our solar system. The thinly dispersed collection of icy material starts roughly 200 times farther away from the sun than Pluto and stretches halfway to our sun’s nearest starry neighbor, Alpha Centauri. We know so little about it that its very existence…

Edison, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 07/16/2021 -- A new business intelligence report released by Advance Market Analytics with title Global Satellite-Based Connectivity Market Insights, forecast to 2027. This report provides a detailed overview of key factors in the Global Satellite-Based Connectivity Market and factors such as driver, restraint, past and…

This is a video simulating the burn-up of a Solar Array Drive Mechanism during atmospheric reentry using a plasma wind tunnel. This Solar Array Drive Mechanism (SADM) has the essential task of keeping a satellite's solar wings trained on the Sun, maintaining mission operations. But its bulky nature presents a…

Home News ESA scientists simulated the burn-up during the atmospheric reentry of one of the bulkiest items aboard a typical satellite. (Image credit: Copyright ESA/DLR) A plasma wind tunnel completely vaporizes a model of a satellite in a video from the European Space Agency (ESA), demonstrating how the speed and…

Home News Spaceflight An illustration depicting the cluttered space debris around the Earth. (Image credit: NASA) Leading industrial nations have agreed to make the space junk problem a priority in order to ensure future sustainable use of space. The announcement, made at the G-7 Leaders' Summit in Cornwall, U.K., on…

70% of all cataloged objects are in low-Earth orbit (LEO), which extends to 2000 km above the Earth’s surface. To observe the Earth, spacecraft must orbit at such a low altitude. The spatial density of objects increases at high latitudes. Note: The debris field shown in the image is an…

A piece of orbital debris recently hit Canadarm2, the nearly 18-meter-long robotic arm on the International Space Station that helps with maintenance tasks and “catches” visiting spacecraft. Thankfully, the functioning of the robotic arm is unaffected.  According to Canadian Space Agency (CSA), a routine inspection on May 12 discovered the…

As if we needed another timely reminder that space junk is becoming a serious problem, the International Space Station now has a bit of additional damage thanks to a piece of debris traveling at high speeds around Earth. The Canadian Space Agency reported the existence of a hole in the…

The inevitable has occurred. A piece of space debris too small to be tracked has hit and damaged part of the International Space Station - namely, the Canadarm2 robotic arm. The instrument is still operational, but the object punctured the thermal blanket and damaged the boom beneath. It's a sobering…