¶ … Space Debris and Junk: Causes and Effects
Last February 1, 2003, the world had witnessed the news that the space shuttle Columbia broke up upon its reentry on the surface of the Earth. There have been speculations about the real cause of the mishap, wherein one report states that there has been an error in the piloting of the reentry of the said space shuttle. In an article written by Jeffrey Kluger of TIME, scientists speculate that the probable cause of the breaking out of Columbia is because of the difficulty that the space shuttle had in reentering the Earth. The "sheer turbulence of re-entry" may be the cause of Columbia's fate (Kluger 2003 26). However, despite the possibility of this theory, one popular theory about this event is that there might have been a damage in the ship, wherein one of the heat-absorbing tiles in Columbia's external surface may have been damaged or broken. In support to this theory, Keith Phucas of the Time Herald reported that while in its orbit mission, Columbia was hit by "three pieces of insulation," whereby the theory that the Columbia mishap was caused by space debris collisions was formulated.
This information from various news sources shows how space debris collisions are significant in the said mishap last February. This recent event resulted to numerous questions that people wanted to be answered: What are space debris/junk? What are the causes of these materials in space? Its effects? How great is the impact of space debris to space exploration and its programs? Can this problem be remedied? These questions will be addressed in this paper, entitled: "The Problem of Space Debris and Junk: Causes and Effects." This paper will discuss background information about space debris, its causes and effects, and the methods, ways, and regulations that are made by space agencies and governments (concerned in space exploration) in order to prevent another space mishap from happening, as caused by space debris and junk.
What are space debris and junk?
Space debris and space junk are two different concepts, although both are hazardous to space programs and explorations. Space debris is a term appropriately suited to debris that are scattered around the Earth's orbit, which includes meteorites and other particles from the space. Space junk, on the other hand, are "bits and pieces of spacecraft" that were left behind after it exploded in space (Oliwenstein 1992 par. 1).
Space debris are generated by space collisions that happen in space. Examples of these space debris are fragments of space bodies such as asteroids, comets, and planets that are orbiting around the sun. Collisions usually happen in the Solar System; an example of one of the results of a massive collision between Earth and a space object had resulted to the formation of the Moon, which is actually a large mass fragment that was separated from the Earth upon collision. Space debris are hazardous and dangerous to man-made spacecrafts, since these space debris travel at high speeds and when they collide with a space body or object, the impact does not only generate a dent or damage to the body, but it might cause destruction for both bodies also.
Space junk, meanwhile, are objects that were left behind in space, and sometimes, artificial satellites and man-made shuttles that explode in space are left there to float and travel around the area of the Solar System. Space junks include small materials such as gloves and small parts made up of man-made materials. Phucas' article chronicled that in 1983, a chip of white paint collided with the window of the space shuttle Challenger, where the chip of paint had created a 4 millimeter crater, and the astronauts 'estimated' that the chip of paint (a space junk) was traveling at a rate of 10,800 mph when it collided with the window (Phucas 2003 pars. 1-3).
Effects and Threats of Space Debris and Junk
Space debris and junk can pose a tremendous danger to satellites and spacecrafts, whether these spacecrafts are manned or not. In a book entitled, "Orbital Debris," authored by the Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems, spacecrafts traveling in the lower Earth orbit, or LEO, are more susceptible to collide with smaller particles, with a one-millimeter diameter (CETS 1995 4). However, there is also a big chance that big-sized particles will collide with spacecrafts and satellites traveling along the LEO region. Collisions between spacecrafts and space junk usually happen in the LEO region because this particular region is highly-populated with space debris and junk. This is logical since most of the space programs and explorations that were conducted...
All these life saving technologies are indeed very useful today and it's not easy to imagine them resulting from the NASA research. The eye tracker technology is one of the marvelous technologies which have made the world of the disabled people to be open up in particular those having impairment in speech and movement. The view's precise gaze point is distinguished at the computer screen through the tracking of
Space Debris and its Impact on Space ExplorationA lot has changed since the launch of Sputnik in 1957, and space exploration is now an industry in which participants from all over the world have a vested interest. Whether the area for discussion is low Earth orbit (LEO) or beyond to new planets and moons, space is now a place where many missions are routinely being conducted. One problem, however, is
Noncoding DNA, also known as "junk DNA" describes portions of the DNA sequence that do not appear to have any presentable use -- they do not encode for proteins, etc. In fact, in a most eukaryote cells, a rather large percentage of the total genome is noncoding DNA, but this varies between species. However, it is now a misnomer to call this material "junk," because the more sophisticated we become
Recycling and Trash Collection in Modern Countries Garbage becomes a community problem in many countries. The household contributes a big part of the national municipal solid waste, but indeed the bigger part comes from the industry and business operations. For the U.S., this waste product has hit a very astonishing count. Goldstein, N. And Madtes, C. (2000) claimed that the states had produced around 409,029,000 tons of municipal solid waste in
Compulsive Hoarding (Hoarding as a Disorder, Famous Hoarders Case Studies, and Solutions) Regrettably, for several years, hoarding has been an out-of-sight disorder. Very little research was conducted on hoarding in the 1980s. However, since earlier 1990s, research scientists, psychologists and clinicians have shown a dramatic interest in the subject. Awareness concerning hoarding has also increased due to up-to-date media exposure. Sufferers, family members, and human service workforce who frequently deal with the
Boeing had utilized vast amounts of time, labor, energy, money and resources into the Apollo Program of the 1960's for the program finally to be cut to practically nothingness in the 1970's. I. The Apollo Program: Expenditures for the cost of the Apollo Program were in the total amount of $25.4 billion dollars. There were 11 manned Apollo flights, 381.7 kg of moon material was recovered during the course of the
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now