Space Debris Burns in the sky

[Ethan13]

"Skies above Queensland lit up with flashing lights, on February 25, as debris from a Chinese rocket flew past the Australian state. The unusual sight prompted social media users to share pictures and videos of the space debris burning up as it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere. Experts have opined that space debris poses threat to satellites orbiting the planet, therefore, it is better to burn them up in the earth's atmosphere itself. "

https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/australia/australian-skies-light-up-with-space-debris-by-chinese-rocket-launched-in-2019-watch.html

Does this only happen over Australia? Or are people in other parts of the planet too busy to look up to the sky?

[astr0144]

I seem to recall seeing some recent (in last 2 weeks ) on a online news story that may had indicated suggestions that either something may had crashed or been observed... that I think was somewhere in Europe..

but at the moment I cannot find or recall the details about it..at the time I was not really paying too much attention to the article...

or it may have been something to do with it being a meteor in the Uk around Feb 28th or Mar 1st .

A meteor lit up the sky over the UK on Sunday night, wowing amateur stargazers who were lucky enough to see the phenomenon.
Described as a "fireball" by the UK Meteor Network, it was spotted on cameras across the country falling slowly to the ground, with what appeared to be parts of debris coming away from it.
It was seen at around 9.55pm on Sunday, according to the network of meteor watchers, with around 120 sightings reported from as far north as Scotland and as far south as Somerset.
Scientists from the UK Fireball Alliance (UKFall), which is led by staff from the Natural History Museum, say it is likely that the fireball was a part of an asteroid falling to earth.

https://news.sky.com/story/uk-meteor-huge-flash-as-fireball-lights-up-skies-like-a-giant-firework-12232394

"Skies above Queensland lit up with flashing lights, on February 25, as debris from a Chinese rocket flew past the Australian state. The unusual sight prompted social media users to share pictures and videos of the space debris burning up as it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere. Experts have opined that space debris poses threat to satellites orbiting the planet, therefore, it is better to burn them up in the earth's atmosphere itself. "

https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/australia/australian-skies-light-up-with-space-debris-by-chinese-rocket-launched-in-2019-watch.html

Does this only happen over Australia? Or are people in other parts of the planet too busy to look up to the sky?

[Ethan13]

Thanks for the answer, but I rather meant artificial space debris.
Astronomers and skygazers are everywhere.
And I enjoy contemplating the night sky too. It's good that I don't have a lot of light pollution.
I'm wondering how serious the problem of Earth orbit pollution really is?

[ArMaP]

Does this only happen over Australia? Or are people in other parts of the planet too busy to look up to the sky?

It can happen everywhere, but there are some things that limit the possibilities. One of those is latitude, as countries more to the North or South are less likely to watch one of these events, as most satellites do not go that close to the poles.

But there are even some cases of debris reaching the ground.

[astr0144]

I think this was what I noted a few days ago..Sat 27th Feb.

In ref to Space debris, If I recall isome past articles / material that has been wrote on one of the forums threads..t can be a real problem and concern...I believe there is now too much space Junk flying around in Earths orbit..that can also be a major problem for other recent Satellites or space craft .

I think somewhere there is a website that shows many of the various satellites that orbit the Earth.

This may show them, but on a very quick look... I am not sure how to work it..and can not see any image so far that shows them..

its suggested that there are over 19,000 of them..

https://maps.esri.com/rc/sat2/index.html






Astronomers seek help hunting meteorite the size of an apricot that fell to Earth near Bordeaux

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/astronomers-seek-help-hunting-meteorite-the-size-of-an-apricot-that-fell-to-earth-near-bordeaux/ar-BB1eh4ne

Thanks for the answer, but I rather meant artificial space debris.
Astronomers and skygazers are everywhere.
And I enjoy contemplating the night sky too. It's good that I don't have a lot of light pollution.
I'm wondering how serious the problem of Earth orbit pollution really is?

[Ethan13]

I don't think apricot-sized shards are a problem. Although if it hits you ...
On January 28, 2013, the 7.5-kilogram scientific satellite BLITS, having worked in orbit for four years, collided with a fragment with a mass of only 0.017–0.019 g, which was moving at a speed of 8 km / h. And BLITS fell apart.
The problem has been discussed for several decades, has someone suggested a solution?

[astr0144]

I am aware of some of the issues.. in some of the related refs that I posted as to how many of these Objects seem to be orbiting the Earth..

I dont know enough  without taking further time to do more detailed research.
But I seem to recall that there may have been some suggestions to try to to find ways to somehow remove concerning objects..

I am not sure that they could say easily destroy them or blow them up ..or remove them out of Earths Orbit...

or what may happen if they did try to blow them up ... where you would end up with numerous minor particles instead that could then still a major threat to future space craft or new Satellites or to existing valid required Satellites they want to continue using..

Yes it would seem to  quite a major problem to find ways to remove the concerning objects out of earths orbit...
or to consider even bring them back down to Earth...

Whether there are ways to take them further to outer space away from main Earths orbits ... It probably possible...
but its also down to the costs involved or we may still need to create better technology to do it.

whether there are any other ways to go about it...I am not sure

It would be ok if they had ways to totally virtually disintegrate the objects... but that may need something like special lasers or nukes or some other type of detonation... that you would have to take into consideration on what it may do to the Earth if they were to say let a Nuke off in Space...

and that maybe or probably would not even do a good enough job to make debris of no further threat or concern to other objects in Space...

In ref to the Prior link that I posted.. that you make ref to about Apricot size shards..

I was only posting it as It was the article that I had said that I could not recall that I had seen at the time I replied to your initial post ... that I referred to in follow up post that I thought it may had been more related ... I was not making a suggestion that it was too much of a ref towards the more indepth side of the topic that we further discussed to have been anything of it being very valid to the topic..

I don't think apricot-sized shards are a problem. Although if it hits you ...
On January 28, 2013, the 7.5-kilogram scientific satellite BLITS, having worked in orbit for four years, collided with a fragment with a mass of only 0.017–0.019 g, which was moving at a speed of 8 km / h. And BLITS fell apart.
The problem has been discussed for several decades, has someone suggested a solution?

[Ethan13]

In most cases, it is sufficient to give a slight acceleration towards the atmosphere. If the objects are not too large, then they will burn down long before a possible landing. I saw the announcement of various things like the space vacuum cleaner (I think this is the name of the project, not literally the space vacuum cleaner) and other similar projects. But projects are always postponed for a year or two, and then postponed again.

[astr0144]

I may have seen some ref to such a thing as you refer to at some time..

Some others suggestions from a quick search that could bring down objects into Earths atmosphere to hopefuly burn up

How do we clean up space junk?
Wall of Water Another idea for cleaning up space junk, from James Hollopeter of GIT Satellite, is to launch rockets full of water into space. The rockets would release their payload to create a wall of water that orbiting junk would bump into, slow down, and fall out of orbit.

or this link offers some other related suggestions

9 Concepts for Cleaning Up Space Junk

From almost the first moment that man started traveling beyond Earth's atmosphere, we've been leaving behind all sorts of debris in space. Not only is it wasteful, but space junk can be dangerous as well - to satellites, to space stations, and when some of it plummets back to Earth, to human life on the ground. But there is no shortage of concepts for cleaning up the junk we've left behind in orbit, even if some of them seem far-fetched. Here's an overview of some of the ideas being proposed for cleaning up space debris.


1. Giant Lasers
Using high-powered pulsed lasers based on Earth to create plasma jets on space debris could cause them to slow down slightly and to then re-enter and either burn up in the atmosphere or fall into the oceans. "The method is called Laser Orbital Debris Removal (LODR) and it wouldn't require new technology to be developed - it would use laser technology that has been around for 15 years. It would be relatively cheap, and readily available." The biggest hitch, other than adding more litter to the oceans, is the estimated $1 million per object price tag.


2. Space Balloons
The Gossamer Orbit Lowering Device, or GOLD system, uses an ultra-thin balloon (thinner than a plastic sandwich bag), which is inflated with gas to the size of a football field and then attached to large pieces of space debris. The GOLD balloon will increase the drag of objects enough so that the space junk will enter the earth's atmosphere and burn up. If the system works, it could speed up the re-entry of some objects from a couple hundred years to just a few months.

3. Self-Destructing Janitor Satellites


Swiss researchers at the Federal Institute of Technology have devised a small satellite, called CleanSpace One, which could find and then grab onto space junk with jellyfish-like tentacles. The device would then plummet back towards Earth, where both the satellite and the space debris would be destroyed during the heat and friction of re-entry.


4. Wall of Water
Another idea for cleaning up space junk, from James Hollopeter of GIT Satellite, is to launch rockets full of water into space. The rockets would release their payload to create a wall of water that orbiting junk would bump into, slow down, and fall out of orbit. The Ballistic Orbital Removal System is said to be able to be put into action inexpensively, by launching water on decommissioned missiles.


5. Space Pods
Russia's space corporation, Energia, is planning to build a space pod to knock junk out of orbit and back down to earth. The pod is said to use a nuclear power core to keep it fueled for about 15 years as it orbits the earth, knocking defunct satellites out of orbit. The debris would either burn up in the atmosphere or drop into the ocean. A company representative claims that they could clean up the space around Earth in just ten years, by collecting around 600 dead satellites (all on the same geosynchronous orbit) and them sinking them into the ocean.


6. Tungsten Microdust
In theory, tons of tungsten microdust put into low earth orbit, on a trajectory opposite that of the targeted space junk, would be enough to slow smaller space debris (with dimensions under 10 cm). The slowed debris would then decay into a lower orbit, where it could be expected to fall into earth's atmosphere within a couple of decades, not the hundreds of years which the debris could remain in orbit at their current altitudes. The biggest problem with this idea is the possible health issue of tungsten entering the atmosphere - tungsten compounds have been associated with stillbirths and abnormal musculoskeletal development in some studies.

7. Space Garbage Trucks
The US Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) is investing in the Electrodynamic Debris Eliminator, or EDDE, a space "garbage truck" equipped with 200 giant nets which could be extended out to scoop up space garbage. The EDDE could then either fling the garbage back to Earth to land in the oceans, or push the objects into a closer orbit, which would keep them out of the way of current satellites until they decay and fall back to Earth.

8. Recycling Satellites

Instead of just trashing space debris, some dead satellites could be "mined" by other satellites for useable components. DARPA's Phoenix program could create new technology to enable harvesting of some valuable components from satellites in so-called "graveyard" orbits. The program would work to devise nanosatellites that would be cheaper to launch, and that could essentially complete their own construction by latching onto an existing satellite in the graveyard orbit and using the parts it needs.

9. Sticky Booms

https://www.treehugger.com/concepts-cleaning-space-junk-4858326

In most cases, it is sufficient to give a slight acceleration towards the atmosphere. If the objects are not too large, then they will burn down long before a possible landing. I saw the announcement of various things like the space vacuum cleaner (I think this is the name of the project, not literally the space vacuum cleaner) and other similar projects. But projects are always postponed for a year or two, and then postponed again.

[Ethan13]

Thank you, this is interesting. I only knew about 3 out of 9 ways suggested here. I think in the next 2 years, some of this or new will already be used. Or rather, I hope. These are very interesting devices. After all, they must comply with many parameters and rules.

[Ethan13]

I was wrong. A service satellite was already used in February. For the first time. This device allows you to maintain and refuel satellites, and can also be used to combat space debris. Apparently, this is what I meant by the space tug. I think this is a good start. The rest will follow the first.

[Littleenki]

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=763946507814508&set=a.610807066461787

Snapped this March 11th in the North sky above Polaris....

Le

[Ethan13]

Handsomely. What's going on there? I also want to go to the North Pole. But I'm afraid I'll freeze. And so I'll stay there. It's cool when there are such a desire and the ability to fulfil it.