MSL. NASA. Images. Google. Wanted: Garbage collectors in space. Space Debris Space Debris2 Every messy kid gets told to clean up his or her room. City governments send out trucks and crews to clean up roads and parks. Now, scientists say if we want to keep our astronauts and satellites safe, it’s time to clean up space, and soon.
A sprawling garbage heap floats high above Earth. In a recent study, engineer Hugh Lewis and his colleagues from the University of Southampton in England ran some calculations on space junk. If a broken or defunct satellite doesn’t fall back toward Earth and burn up in the atmosphere, it continues to whiz around our planet. In February 2009, a Russian satellite and a U.S. satellite plowed into each other over northern Siberia.
In March of this year, scientists saw that the International Space Station was headed toward a four-inch piece of space garbage left over from the 2009 collision. Another situation, related to greenhouse gas emissions, is lengthening how long any piece of space trash remains in orbit. Space Exploration. NASA. Solar System. Space Station Repairs Game. <center><div class="site_errors"><div class="floatType_site_error_top"></div><div class="floatType_site_error"><table summary="layout table"><tr><td bgcolor="#000000"><font color="#ffffff"><h2><img src="/templateimages/redesign/modules/overlay/site_error.gif" title="Site Error" alt="Site Error"/>There's a problem with your browser or settings.
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