Space debris poses threat to Earth, shocking NASA report

New delhi date. 22 March 2023 Wednesday

On the night of 17 March 2023, a surprising sight was seen in California, USA. There, an antenna of the space station fell to the earth at a speed of 27 thousand km per hour. Meanwhile, a glow was seen in the sky. In fact this was man-made debris from the space station which was released 3 years ago in February 2020.

The question arises as to why the waste that was released 3 years ago finally fell on earth now. However, it was moving around the earth for 3 years. It was an idle machine of about 700 pounds that now fell to earth.

How many satellites are there in space?

According to a report by the US Government Accountability Office, in the year 1957, an artificial i.e. man-made satellite called Sputnik was sent into space for the first time. Since then the number of satellites in the earth's orbit has increased continuously. The number was around 1400 till 2015 and has increased to close to 5500 by early 2022. There are about 58,000 satellites that could be launched by the end of this decade. This number is 10 times more than the current number of active satellites.

Thousands of tons of debris at Earth's orbit

According to a report by US space agency NASA on 26 May 2021, space includes both natural meteorites and man-made debris. Meteorites are present in the Sun's orbit while most man-made debris is in the Earth's orbit. There are currently about 23,000 pieces of debris the size of a softball. The debris is moving at a maximum speed of 17,500 miles per hour. Which is enough to damage any satellite or spacecraft.

NASA says that apart from this debris, half a million pieces, or 5 lakh pieces of man-made debris, are of some size and slightly larger. These fragments range in size from 0.4 inches to 1 centimeter, while about 100 million man-made fragments are .04 inches (one millimeter) or larger. The smallest debris is micrometer in size, 0.000039 inches in diameter.