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The Elusive Peril of Space Junk

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21–30 of 42 posts

Re: The Elusive Peril of Space Junk

#21

The show The Expanse has some interesting scenes involving loose items inside ships as well as junk/ballistics ripping through ships that this reminded me of. Interesting to see that fiction was inspired by the reality.

The movie Gravity also starts with a space debris-related catastrophe. At least the concept is gaining traction in popular culture.

Re: The Elusive Peril of Space Junk

#24
post #10

I find that the page's decision to hide the scrollbar and force smooth scrolling to be user-hostile.

Sometimes I feel HN should have two separate comment sections. One to discuss the content of the article, and one to discuss everything else.

Re: The Elusive Peril of Space Junk

#26
In the discussion of space junk, and kessler syndrome, there is a large bias that needs to be addressed. Most commentators operate under the impression that most of the stuff up there is "junk" from human activities, that space was essentially clean until we got there. It wasn't. It isn't. There are literally tons of natural rock falling onto earth every day. By some measurements over 100 metric tons per day. That is only the stuff actually landing on earth. Exponentially more of it passes by without striking the planet but nevertheless still passes through the orbits of our satellites and space stations. Worse yet, because we have a large moon, much of that will have itself entered into some form of orbit around earth. Any discussion of the dangers associated with human-created space junk must occur in that context.

Why hasn't the kessler syndrome started already? Why has the ISS not been sandblasted after 20+ years in orbit? Those are great questions.

Re: The Elusive Peril of Space Junk

#27
I approach these articles from a point of skepticism (but still open minded).

It seems to me to any venture mankind takes on has to fit into this narrative of man sinning against nature. It’s kind of like original sin for non religious folks.

Kessler syndrome is the example of this for space. It’s hard to find arguments against man expanding into space but oh wait you could pollute low earth orbit so better stay on earth.

When you start looking for it you’ll see it everywhere.

Re: The Elusive Peril of Space Junk

#28

In the discussion of space junk, and kessler syndrome, there is a large bias that needs to be addressed. Most commentators operate under the impression that most of the stuff up there is "junk" from human activities, that space was essentially clean until we got there. It wasn't. It isn't. There are literally tons of natural rock falling onto earth every day. By some measurements over 100 metric tons per day. That is…

Are you suggesting the strike rate for the ISS doesn’t match expectations? What could explain that?

Re: The Elusive Peril of Space Junk

#29

In the discussion of space junk, and kessler syndrome, there is a large bias that needs to be addressed. Most commentators operate under the impression that most of the stuff up there is "junk" from human activities, that space was essentially clean until we got there. It wasn't. It isn't. There are literally tons of natural rock falling onto earth every day. By some measurements over 100 metric tons per day. That is…

I'd imagine there's a difference in risk between orbiting debris and stuff that's just passing through, like when we have a meteor shower as we pass through a residual debris trail. The really tiny grain-of-sand stuff can be fairly effectively shielded against, as well; bigger chunks are more difficult.

Satellites definitely get sandblasted to some extent; here's a hole made in the SolarMax satellite. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SMM_panel_hole.jpg

The ISS cupola got hit and repaired, too: http://www.spacesafetymagazine.com/space-debris/kessler-synd...

Re: The Elusive Peril of Space Junk

#30

In the discussion of space junk, and kessler syndrome, there is a large bias that needs to be addressed. Most commentators operate under the impression that most of the stuff up there is "junk" from human activities, that space was essentially clean until we got there. It wasn't. It isn't. There are literally tons of natural rock falling onto earth every day. By some measurements over 100 metric tons per day. That is…

The ISS must regularly change position in orbit to avoid debris.
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