Space Junk

As someone who is going to be an aerospace engineer at least until June (though hopefully not after that), I think I can claim that the problem of space debris is one that touches my life.

This is an interesting issue both because of the direct problems it poses (What are we going to do with all this junk orbiting the Earth? What is going to happen when there’s too much of it to launch any more satellites? What happens to dead satellites? Could any of them ever lose momentum and come crashing down on someone’s head or house?), but also because it raises questions about what an environmental issue is.

What are the boundaries of that vague space that we define as “our environment”? Do they extend past the Earth’s atmosphere? Is there a line we can draw around ourselves, and are we allowed to do whatever we want outside that line? Also, if such a line does exist, is it constantly moving outward in the ongoing narrative of “human exploration” (which comes dangerously close to the narrative of conquest and colonization).

But I’m going a bit too far into outer space now (sorry about the bad pun). Time to get back to the issue of space debris (or space junk, the less polite term).

Here are a few links that offer some background information. NASA monitors closely the amount of space debris orbiting the Earth, and you can follow along yourself here. I find the maps of space debris particularly interesting.



Also, the Wikipedia article on space debris has some fun facts and outlines some of the proposed solutions.

Another item of note: the space shuttle flies “upside down and backwards” from the point of view of the Earth. The “upside down” part is because its dark underside protects the crew from radiation, the “backwards” part is so the thrusters can scoop up and deflect any space junk that could potentially damage the space shuttle. When hurtling at tens of thousands of kilometers an hour, even something a centimeter in diameter can be destructive.

All right, so why should your average person care about space junk? It’s so far away, right? The bits of dead satellites and trash dumped from Mir are potentially the most damaging to other satellites, the International Space Station, and space telescopes, not a normal person walking around on Earth. So maybe this points to another broader question, which is how does the space program fit into environmentalism (if it fits at all)? Should we completely abandon exploring other worlds in favor of fixing the myriad problems on our own planet? I don’t think the two have to be mutually exclusive, but I’m sure there are some that make that argument. There are even people who claim that it doesn’t matter what we do to the Earth because we’ll be able to colonize Mars or live in a space station or something. People that say that don’t realize how far we are from actually being able to do it.

In any case, although I’ll be giving up my connection with the space industry when I graduate (at least for the near future), and I think that more money should be spent on environmental issues, I’m not advocating choosing Earth over space or vice versa.

Ok...maybe I am just a little…