Originally published February 23 2006
More than 9,000 pieces of space litter orbit Earth
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
There is no way to clean up the mess that has resulted from explosions of older satellites left in orbit. NASA reports that almost 5,500 tons of debris has collected between 550 miles and 625 miles above the Earth.
Even if space launches were halted now --- which will not happen --- the collection of debris would continue growing as items already in orbit collide and break into more pieces, Liou said in a telephone interview.
"On the other hand, we are not claiming the sky is falling," he said, "We just need to understand what the risks are."
The most debris-crowded area is between 550 miles and 625 miles above the Earth, Liou said, meaning the risk is less for manned spaceflight.
The International Space Station operates at about 250 miles altitude, and space shuttle flights tend to range between 250 miles and 375 miles, he said.
But the junk can pose a risk to commercial and research flights and other space activities.
A 2004 NASA report identified Russia as the source of the largest number of debris items, closely followed by the United States.
Even without any launches adding to the junk, the creation of new debris from collisions of material already there will exceed the amount of material removed as orbits decay and items fall back to Earth, the researchers estimated.
Only removal of existing large objects from orbit "can prevent future problems for research in and commercialization of space," they wrote.
"As of now there is no viable solution, technically and economically, to remove objects from space," Liou said.
Tethers to slow down orbiting materials and cause them to fall back to Earth sooner could work, but attaching tethers to the space junk would be excessively expensive for the benefit gained, the researchers said.
Newly launched satellites and boosters could include engines that would direct them back to Earth, but that would require costly and complex power and control systems.
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