We Can Do It With Robots

In 2016, European Space Agency astronaut Tim Peake found a quarter-inch dent gouged into a glass window of the International Space Station (ISS). The cause was a tiny fleck of space junk. 

The piece of debris, a paint flake or a metal fragment from a satellite, was only a few thousandths of a millimeter across, but clearly crashed into the ISS at 15,600 mph, most likely!

Objects at the altitude of the ISS and most other satellites 250 miles above Earth revolving around Earth every 90 minutes. That is more than 15,600 mph: Ten times the speed of a rifle bullet shot on Earth. 

The energy of an impact isn't just related to the size of an object; velocity; speed and direction are equally important. That's why a small bullet can cause so much damage; when moving at a high enough velocity, any object could be dangerous.

If two objects are moving toward one another when they collide the energy of the collision is equal to one colliding with a solid object at twice its’ forward speed. In space, a fast-moving fleck of paint colliding with the ISS leaves a big mark or causes real damage.

In space, satellites, spacecraft and debris orbit along many different paths; while one object might orbit horizontally around the equator, another may loop vertically around the poles. Some objects even move "in retrograde," meaning they rotate counter to the Earth’s orbit.  As more and more debris clutters space, Earth's low orbit (in which the ISS flies) has become a packed highway in rush hour with increasing potential of collision.  

The astronauts onboard the ISS were lucky that a larger piece of debris didn't hit the window. A microbe-size fragment may leave only a dent, but a pea-size fragment would disable critical flight systems, according to the European Space Agency, debris the size of a ping-pong ball would be catastrophic.  At that size, space junk could cause the space station to rapidly depressurize, killing the astronauts.

Space junk is a growing problem. Earth's orbit contains at least 128 million pieces of debris, and 34,000 of them are larger than four inches according to the Natural History Museum in London and those are just the fragments that are large enough to detect. Smaller pieces are created when satellites weather under space radiation, which is lethal as well.  When larger pieces of space debris collide or satellites are intentionally destroyed much debris is generated. Such debris is made when 3,000 derelict satellites, as well as parts shed by spacecraft during launches collide.

By tracking space junk, scientists can tell countries and companies when to maneuver a spacecraft out of the path of a speeding piece of debris.  The ISS has performed 25 of these maneuvers since 1999, according to the Natural History Museum. And researchers are developing ways to fish junk out of space using hooks, nets and magnets to pull it back into Earth's atmosphere where it vaporizes on re-entry.

Space junk is making it too dangerous for us to use Earth's near space for satellites and even launch spacecraft through it.  We're are not at that point yet, but it is coming if we do not get ahead of the space junk and given our history with the UN unlikely we will get anything like the cooperation needed.  Our "friends" are polluting near space with lethal junk that will imprison us to Earth and prevent our use of near space in any way.  Even, passing through it!

We use near space for communication, weather forecasting, mapping, commerce entertainment and military. Our use of space for stunts like landing on the Moon is a waste and asking for a disaster like losing a crew, all for nothing.  There is nothing on the moon that is not under our feet, save "Helium 3" which we can make here in nuclear reactors at a fraction of the cost.  He3 is thought to be a fuel for nuclear fusion reactors which could be an unlimited source of power, but the technology is yet unknown and perhaps way over the rainbow.

There is no reason for men and women to go into space as robots do such explorations, and work in space, faster, cheaper; with no loss of life.  All of our “Man In Space” has been in the “Stunt” class with a huge waste of men, women and money.  The planned US Space Force is a monumentally bad idea as robots do a much better, cheaper, safer for all the people involved when we can do it with robots.

Adrian Vance