The growing space junk problem

If indeed there is a god occupying the heavens, then he must be pretty fed up by now.

His heavenly sphere, once offered unobstructed panoramas of Earth’s blue vistas and (aside from the occasional fleeting visit by wandering comets) he could relax in its infinite isolation. However, since the arrival of the space age, the heavens have become a pretty crowded place and today any heavenly dwellers seeking to enjoy the view are likely to get a bullet-like shard of paint through the eye for their trouble.

[Graphic: Space junk facts and figures – click to make bigger]

In fact since the launch of Sputnik in 1957, mankind has lofted more than 6,500 satellites into god’s backyard. Add to that some spent rocket stages and other bits and bobs travelling at more than 28,000 kilometres per hour and (one or two collisions later) you have swarm of space debris more numerous than the locust visited upon Ancient Egypt (and far more dangerous).

Just last week, the inhabitants of the International Space Station were forced to evacuate to their Soyuz lifeboat as a swarm of potentially ISS-disabling debris honed into view.

[Graphic: How much space junk is there and how dangerous is it? – Click to blow up]

But space debris is more than just a passing danger to equipment – even a tiny flake of paint becomes a potentially deadly projectile when travelling at orbital speeds. The risk to the Space Station and the astronauts that occupy it taken very seriously by Nasa – in fact it has been estimated that in the lifetime of the Station there is a one in 12 chance that an astronaut will be killed by space debris. This wasn’t the first time the Space Station has been threatened by hordes of marauding space junk and, since 1999, it has had to change its orbit about a dozen times to step out of the way.

The risk to commercial satellites is also well documented and, with several high-profile loses in the last two years alone, space junk is problem that is going to have to addressed sooner or later.

After all, if we have this much junk littering our doorstep so soon after the dawn of the space age, what’s Earth going to look like by the time Star Trek becomes a reality?