An Image of the Australian Desert Illuminates Satellite Pollution
Look what they've done to our sky, Ma.,
Look what they've done to our sky,
Well it's the only thing that will protect us right, and they've turned it upside down, Ma...
(Profuse apologies to Melanie Safka)
"[Space] debris presents ... a complex issue for satellite operators trying to navigate these invisible threats. 'Without proper coordination, these valuable spaces will be overcrowded, making it harder to avoid collisions and creating more debris.'"
https://phys.org/news/2025-04-space-traffic-trash-policy-experts.html
"Debris presents not only a physical hazard but also a complex issue for satellite operators trying to navigate these invisible threats. Low Earth orbit is the closest orbital regime to Earth ... and is by far the most congested region of all. 'Without proper coordination, these valuable spaces will be overcrowded, making it harder to avoid collisions and creating more debris.'”
https://phys.org/news/2025-04-space-traffic-trash-policy-experts.html
@bgrinter @ParadeGrotesque @jschwa1
Very good article. Slightly out of date but well worth reading.
The "move fast and break things" men obviously don't give a flip about LEO or any of our orbits for that matter.
@jaztrophysicist @franco_vazza I'm not from the astro community but I fear that the NASA cuts are not used for a better health care but for the concurrent with the #SpaceDebris and the other fascist funding billionaire.
Wouldn't the debate here be more about how much should be privatised in research and what ethical standards (including degrowth) could then apply?
https://www.europesays.com/uk/13681/ “US on High Alert as China’s Satellite Swarms Multiply”: Starlink Rival Sparks Global Panic With Aggressive Military Space Takeover #China #Environment #SatelliteLaunches #Science #SpaceDebris #UK #UnitedKingdom
Fragmentations without collisions were the main cause of the creation of #SpaceDebris in 2024, according to #ESA. There are around 54,000 objects in Earth orbit with a diameter of more than 10 centimeters and 1.2 million between 1 and 10 centimeters, between 1 millimeter and 1 centimeter around 130 million. https://www.heise.de/en/news/ESA-report-warns-of-space-debris-and-overcrowded-orbit-10348061.html
Concerning for space traffic management and the potential for space debris generation: the U.S. federal 'budget blueprint' would also end #TraCSS (Traffic Coordination System for Space) as we know it: “The #OMB document … proposes a transfer of the Traffic Coordination System for Space to a nonprofit or a private sector partner, which could be a boon for Elon Musk’s #SpaceX.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/11/white-house-plan-guts-noaa-climate-research-00286408
Concerning for space traffic management and the potential for space debris generation: the U.S. federal 'budget blueprint' would also end #TraCSS (Traffic Coordination System for Space) as we know it: “The #OMB document … proposes a transfer of the Traffic Coordination System for Space to a nonprofit or a private sector partner, which could be a boon for Elon Musk’s #SpaceX.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/11/white-house-plan-guts-noaa-climate-research-00286408
ESA report warns of space debris and overcrowded orbit.
As the number of satellites increases, so does the amount of space debris in orbit, writes the European Space Agency in its latest the Space Environment Report 2025.
It warns that some orbits are becoming cramped and calls for the removal of space debris.
"Space is vast, almost incalculably huge. And yet we’ve still found ways to pollute the area immediately surrounding our home planet. Whatever it is, we put it there, and now the area just outside of the Earth’s reach is riddled with garbage." (via @Vice)
https://www.vice.com/en/article/earths-space-junk-problem-is-getting-out-of-control/
"Space is vast, almost incalculably huge. And yet we’ve still found ways to pollute the area immediately surrounding our home planet. Whatever it is, we put it there, and now the area just outside of the Earth’s reach is riddled with garbage." (via @Vice)
https://www.vice.com/en/article/earths-space-junk-problem-is-getting-out-of-control/
#TIL that 2029 will be the UN 'International Year of Asteroid Awareness and Planetary Defence' https://www.un.org/en/observances/asteroid-awareness-year
Seems like a good time to talk about how vast, orbiting swarms of #satellites and #SpaceDebris imperil our ability to detect potentially hazardous #asteroids.
https://www.europesays.com/1975014/ Aitech Unveils World’s First AI-Enabled Picosatellite Constellation Platform Transforming Space-Based Intelligence for Military, Defense, Public Safety, Agriculture and Infinite Other New Markets #Aitech #AnomalyDetection #ArtificialIntelligence #constellation #LEOConstellation #space #SpaceDebris #SpacePlatforms #SpaceSymposium #Watchman
Proliferating #SpaceDebris threatens environmental monitoring satellites.
"About 70% to 80% of all the [#climate and environment] information that we get are from #satellites. If those satellites in orbit are in danger, our ability to predict climate changes in the future […] is certainly under threat."
https://www.dw.com/en/space-junk-damaging-satellites-how-do-we-remove-it/a-72117947
#ESA:
"
Weltraummüll: Handelt es sich um eine Krise?
"
"“Space Debris: Is it a Crisis?“, der Kurzdokumentarfilm der Europäischen Weltraumorganisation über den Status der Raumfahrtrückstände im Orbit wurde auf der 9. Europäischen Konferenz zum Thema Space Debris am 1. April 2025 in Bonn uraufgeführt."
https://www.esa.int/Space_in_Member_States/Germany/Weltraummuell_Handelt_es_sich_um_eine_Krise
2.4.2025
