Space Debris Created by Rocket Fragmentation in Orbithttp://news.yahoo.com/space-debris-created-rocket-fragmentation-orbit-184800280.html (http://news.yahoo.com/space-debris-created-rocket-fragmentation-orbit-184800280.html)
A Growing Population of Debris Items Threatens Our Ability to Use Space for Navigation and Communications
By Charles Phillips | Yahoo! Contributor Network – 21 hrs ago.. .
Very recently, a Russian-built rocket stage circling our planet fragmented and scattered many hundreds of pieces of dangerous debris in space. This has been a growing problem for decades, as we launch satellites we also put random bits of the rockets into space along with them, and they could collide with active satellites.
* The source of the new debris is a Russian Breeze-M upper stage which exploded on Oct. 16, though most of the pieces were not recognized for several days.
* The upper stage failed after three of four planned burns, leaving the stage with a lot of residual hypergolic fuel which apparently mixed and exploded.
* These items are in orbits that intersect with orbits used by many operational satellites, and a collision would almost certainly be catastrophic for a working spacecraft.
* The U.S. Air Force tracks all debris like this and is tracking over 20,000 pieces from small to very large items. They also are researching what can be done about this problem.
* There is currently nothing that can be done about debris like this though we are improving our ability to keep track of it.
* If we know where this junk is, some of our operational spacecraft can be commanded to avoid it, as long as they have fuel. However, many cannot.
* There is growing concern that the increased number of debris objects could interfere with our ability to put any useful satellites into space.
* The countries that launch spacecraft have two efforts to do something about the problem -- first create a lot less debris and also put satellites into orbits that will cause them to re-enter the atmosphere faster.
* One previous event that scattered debris in space was a collision between a dead Russian satellite and an operational Iridium communications satellite on Feb. 10, 2009.
* This collision occurred at 790 kilometers or 490 miles above the Earth, a very congested altitude. It created not one but two clouds of debris.
* Some spacecraft that have used all of their fuel and cannot accomplish their mission any more become orbital debris. An example is the Envisat spacecraft.
* If that spacecraft collides with another object, it would create one or two more debris clouds -- each piece of which could then collide with some other satellite.
* NASA's Johnson Space Center has a Frequently Asked Questions list that has an enormous amount of information about this subject.
Charles Phillips has had a long career in the space field: he has worked in space operations since 1978, as an Air Force officer from 1978 until he retired in 2005 (working in space, communications, and maintenance), or as a NASA contractor, and he has been a writer all of that time. Now he finds the stories that people are interested in but might have been missed by other reporters.