Satellite shoot-downs, Kessler Syndrome, etc.

[Isgrimnur]

WaPo

Joining the select space club of United States, Russia and China, India became the fourth country in the world to shoot down a low-orbit satellite with a missile, announced Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday.

The Shakti (which means “power” in Hindi) mission lasted just three minutes, and the target was blown up in its low orbit 186 miles from Earth, he said, describing it as a “proud moment” for India. The satellite shot down in the test was one the country’s existing satellites. Modi said India developed this capability for defensive purposes.
...
The United States first tested antisatellite missiles in 1958, and China did so as recently as 2007.

[Isgrimnur]

News 18

The European Space Agency said that, as of January 2018, there are about 29,000 objects larger than 10 centimeters, around 750,000 objects that range between 1 cm to 10 cm and about 166 million objects between 1 mm to 1 cm in size. That’s a lot of zeroes; that’s a lot of garbage.

If any two of those infinitesimal objects happen to collide, it could have a domino effect with the number of collisions increasing exponentially. And given that these pieces orbit the planet at a speed of more than 8 kilometers per second, even a marble-sized hunk of space trash could knock a satellite out of the sky. This, in turn, would cause more collisions, leading to more satellites going down, in a phenomenon known as the Kessler Syndrome, essentially meaning no more Google Maps. The horror.
...
Indeed, the proliferation of space junk has reached to the extent that companies and governments from countries including those in the U.S., Japan, Singapore and the UK, have just raised a $103 million in funding to finance a major clean-up operation to avoid the global fallout as a result of the Kessler Syndrome.
...
The US and Russia have both tested similar technology in the 1980s, though the former ceased its anti-satellite tests in 1985, citing concerns over the creation of more space debris.

As noted by NASA, China's 2007 anti-satellite test, which used a missile to destroy an old weather satellite, added more than 3,000 pieces to the debris.

[Daehawk]

Wow $100 million. Might as well try to sneeze them away. At least they are thinking about it.

[Brian]

Might as well try to sneeze them away.

Great Green Arkleseizure: Hold my beer...

[gameoverman]

I've seen landscapers use blowers when they need to rake up a lot of leaves. So why don't we send up a vehicle with a remote controlled space blower. Then we can either park it in a stationary orbit and blow away crap as it flies by OR chase down debris, whichever is more cost effective? If all the tiny pieces can be blown together into a larger clump, it would be easier to clean that stuff up.

[Z-Corn]

I would think we could put up a giant Space Fucking Magnet but how do they work?

[Isgrimnur]

WaPo

One week after India became the fourth country in the world to target and shatter a satellite in low Earth orbit with a missile, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine condemned the unilateral move on Monday.

During a town hall meeting, Bridenstine called the test “unacceptable,” saying, “Intentionally creating orbital debris fields is not compatible with human space flight.” According to a NASA assessment last week, the Indian space test increased the likelihood of small debris hitting the International Space Station (ISS) by 44 percent over a period of 10 days. The risk is expected to eventually return to normal.

[AWS260]

[Isgrimnur]

Space

Two big pieces of space junk are zooming toward a close approach that will occur Thursday at 8:56 p.m. EDT (0056 GMT on Oct. 16), according to California-based tracking company LeoLabs.

The encounter will take place 616 miles (991 kilometers) above the South Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of Antarctica. LeoLabs' latest calculations peg the probability of a collision at more than 10% — a scarily high number, considering that the combined mass of the objects is about 6,170 lbs. (2,800 kilograms) and they'll be barreling toward each other at a relatively velocity of 32,900 mph (52,950 km/h).
...
Also on Twitter, Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer and satellite tracker based at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, identified the two objects as a defunct Soviet navigation satellite called Parus (or Kosmos 2004) and a Chinese rocket stage.

A "search-mode scan" scheduled for shortly after the close approach should reveal if a collision did in fact occur, LeoLabs said in another tweet. And we should all keep our fingers crossed for a near miss; a smashup would likely result in a "significant (10 to 20 percent) increase in the LEO debris environment," McDowell said in another tweet. ("LEO" stands for "low Earth orbit.")

[Daehawk]

At this point I dont give a shit much. Humans put all that junk up there and never does anything about it. If we fuck ourselves too bad. We have a tendency to do nothing until its too late. Look at our record on everything.

[Holman]

Space

Two big pieces of space junk are zooming toward a close approach that will occur Thursday at 8:56 p.m. EDT (0056 GMT on Oct. 16), according to California-based tracking company LeoLabs.

The encounter will take place 616 miles (991 kilometers) above the South Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of Antarctica. LeoLabs' latest calculations peg the probability of a collision at more than 10% — a scarily high number, considering that the combined mass of the objects is about 6,170 lbs. (2,800 kilograms) and they'll be barreling toward each other at a relatively velocity of 32,900 mph (52,950 km/h).
...
Also on Twitter, Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer and satellite tracker based at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, identified the two objects as a defunct Soviet navigation satellite called Parus (or Kosmos 2004) and a Chinese rocket stage.

A "search-mode scan" scheduled for shortly after the close approach should reveal if a collision did in fact occur, LeoLabs said in another tweet. And we should all keep our fingers crossed for a near miss; a smashup would likely result in a "significant (10 to 20 percent) increase in the LEO debris environment," McDowell said in another tweet. ("LEO" stands for "low Earth orbit.")

Did I really see that these objects missed each other by just about 11 meters? That's a hair's breadth in space.

[Isgrimnur]

Yup.

Spoiler:

Our latest data confirms Cosmos 2004 is still intact. Our final risk assessment showed a computed miss distance of 11 meters (+16 / -11 meters at 1-sigma uncertainty).

More to come next week as we will share a more detailed risk analysis of this event.

[Isgrimnur]

CNN

The US strongly condemned a Russian anti-satellite test on Monday, calling it "a reckless and dangerous act" and added that it "won't tolerate" behavior that puts the national interests of several countries at risk.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the test "will significantly increase the risk to astronauts and cosmonauts on the International Space Station, as well as to other human spaceflight activities," adding that "Russia's dangerous and irresponsible behavior jeopardizes the long-term sustainability of outer space and clearly demonstrates that Russia's claims of opposing the weapons and weaponization of space are disingenuous and hypocritical."

Price said the US would consult with allies and partners on a response, adding that the test generated "hundreds of thousands" of pieces of orbital debris.

"The test has so far generated over 1,500 pieces of trackable orbital debris and hundreds of thousands of pieces of smaller orbital, orbital debris that now threaten the interests of all nations," Price said during a State Department press briefing.

[Blackhawk]

We'll give them such a finger-shaking!