We Will Not Be Able To Visit Space In The Future- Here’s Why
What comes to your mind when someone mentions “outer space” to you?
Most of us would think of the science classes we attended in middle school and fragments
of information about planets and solar system would come back, PAINFULLY!
But for those of you who are obsessed with sci-fi movies, you probably visualize space
suit clad astronauts jetting off to some unknown planet in a hi-tech rocket and return with
vital discoveries about aliens.
Oh the imaginative kinds, you see!
No matter to which of the two groups you belong to, you probably have never thought about
the possibility of a ban on entering space.
Well, that might happen, in the far future but the possibility is bright!
We can all agree on one thing about space, it is unbelievably large and there is a vast
distance between stars.
But you’d be surprised to know that the vast majority of human activity in space occurs
in a narrow slice just 2,000 km above the Earth’s surface, known as Low Earth Orbit
or LEO.
This is where the international space station is located and also where 2,000 commercial
and government satellites do the rounds to provide everything our television sets show
us.
Now that we have painted a rosy picture of space, let’s tell you that not everything
that runs in the LEO is good, humans have to worry about things.
What are those?
LEO is not only home to space station and satellites, it also houses tremendous amounts
of garbage and debris that humans have been leaving behind them, ever since they first
visited outer space.
It’s strange how humans have come a long way with technological advancements but with
their stupidity, are ready to undo the progress made so far!
If you don’t see it as a big problem, know that this debris can prevent us from visiting
space again for several generations and that would be a setback on our current technological
advancements, it’ll act like a reverse gear and drive us back to an era where going to
moon was a distant dream!
Most of this junk consists of tiny objects like dust from solid rocket motors, flakes
of paint eroded off of vehicle surfaces, or leaked frozen coolant from nuclear satellites.
That might sound nothing significant till you know that there are 100 million junk pieces
of less than 1cm size that are zipping at a speed of 22,000kmph or faster.
You know what’s worse?
There are also an estimated 500 thousand pieces of junk between 1 centimeter and 10 centimeters
wide whizzing in the LEO.
Those aren’t just innocent bits in space because they may strike your spaceship with
high velocity, destroy it and kill you!
We know you focused on the part that such a collision can kill the astronauts but that’s
not the most horrifying news here.
The focus is on collisions, did you miss the point?
When such a collision happens, the satellite or spaceship disintegrates to more pieces
and what will these pieces do?
Yes, revolve in space, waiting to collide with other satellites!
That will create more particles who will whizz out to collide with more objects and the cycle
continues till we enter the Kessler Syndrome!
Proposed by the NASA scientist Donald J. Kessler in 1978, it is a scenario in which the density
of objects in low earth orbit (LEO) is high enough that collisions between objects could
cause a cascade where each collision generates space debris that increases the likelihood
of further collisions.
Now that’s scary!
If you are thinking that the particles would be destroyed or would disappear before such
vast and regular destructions occur, you are wrong.
If you lose anything in space, it generally sticks around for a pretty long time.
Space junk will take centuries to enter into Earth's atmosphere and burn up on its own.
If collisions keep on happening, the number of random particles moving at crazy speeds
would increase and the Low-Earth-Orbit would effectively be like a constant shooting range.
If things go like this then that day is not far when we won’t be able to launch a satellite
into space with success because it will be destroyed right away!
This would mean that future space missions would be nothing less than suicides!
While on one side we are warning you about accidental collisions in space that can prove
to be threatening for us as well as the future generations, some intentional collisions are
also made to happen.
Does that shock you?
Back in 2007, the Chinese government tested an anti-satellite missile by using one to
destroy one of their own satellite in LEO, producing over 2,000 golf ball sized or larger
fragments as well as over 150,000 tiny debris particles.
In 2011, some of the debris from this test passed a mere 6 kilometers away from the international
space station.
Should we call it an intentional mistake or simply unawareness?
Another example of a full blown debris comes from the now defunct ENVISAT satellite launched
by the European Space Agency in 2002.
All was well when this satellite was launched and it stayed the same way for a decade but
in 2012 contact with it was lost and it turned into an 8000 kilogram piece of junk!
It is likely to remain in Earth’s orbit for another 100-150 years and since the rate
of collision will increase in the coming years, it is only a matter of time when this satellite
disintegrates and causes hell lot of particles to run crazy in space!
So in such a situation, our future generations will have to postpone their space trips for
a few hundred years as we wait for the trash to clear itself up.
Or is the Kessler Syndrome avoidable?
Yes it is, but for that we need to think of space as a resource, just like land and water.
People, they need to be maintained but how?
If you think that we could abandon the space for a while to get things back on track, think
again.
NASA already concluded in 2005 that even if no further launches of objects into space
were made, collisions between already existing satellites would create fragments faster than
atmospheric drag would remove fragments.
Well, the only way to remove garbage from space is to go up and remove it ourselves
or wait for centuries for it to vanish on itself.
But the question is, can we spare that much time without dragging ourselves back on the
technological aspect?
The need to find ways to improve the situation is increasing every minute and if we don’t
want to push humanity into darkness, something needs to be done NOW!
What according to you should be the next step to prevent a permanent space barrier from
forming?
Tell us in the comment section below.
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