Fear of Collision: Are Space Missions in Danger?

There are some 600 thousand man-made objects in orbit around the earth, from parts of rockets, to defunct satellites and even astronauts gloves. Because they orbit at tremendous speeds, on average ten kilometers a second, even the smallest parts can cause huge damage.
This space debris could pose a danger for the Hubble servicing mission. Especially the debris left by the collision of two satellites in February. But if Hubble is not serviced soon, the space telescope could meet an early end.


Scientists at the European Space Agency (ESA) are working to limit the threat posed by space debris, and avoid collisions. They want to set up a monitoring system which would check objects to see if and when they enter a dangerous trajectory. Another idea would be to steer defunct satellites into the atmosphere where they will burn up, or into orbits where they do not pose any danger.


Klaus Esterluss