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Hope for the future and new discoveries
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You hear so much about accidents in space. Hopefully the probe LUCY and the James Webb Space Telescope will not collide. From well-informed sources I have received knowledge of a near accident in the outer orbit of the earth, that could only be avoided by the lightning-fast reaction of the crew and which was concealed by the media:
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I have read and heard that it’s a real traffic jam up there.
That is so hard to fathom. Does anyone have an accurate count of what’s up there?
Just asking.
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Hi Tom,
As of 2021 there are 7500 satellites orbiting the earth.
“As of January 2019, more than 128 million pieces of debris smaller than 1 cm (0.4 in), about 900,000 pieces of debris 1–10 cm, and around 34,000 of pieces larger than 10 cm (3.9 in) were estimated to be in orbit around the Earth.”
Space debris from one of thousands of satellites orbiting earth is pretty hazardous indeed as depicted in this Hollywood scene.
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Yes, it is interesting what particles with such a small mass can do if they are only really accelerated once. Unimaginable when larger chunks are on a collision course. Does anyone of you know how high the probability is that a flying object traveling in space will hit small to medium-sized meteorites (even if the rest of space is pretty debris-free, as David mentioned)? Will LUCY and the James Webb Space Telescope have no more problems with this once they leave Earth orbit? Are collisions between spaceships and celestial bodies just an invention of science fiction literature or a real danger for space travelers?
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Tom, according to Wikipedia, the U.S. Space Surveillance Network is able to track about 20,000 objects orbiting Earth, only about 10% of which are currently functioning satellites. However, it’s estimated that there are about 130 million bits of orbiting debris such as paint flecks and rocket exhaust particles that are too small to detect from the ground.
Most of this debris is concentrated at the altitudes where most spacecraft are sent: low Earth orbit (below 2000 km) or geosynchronous orbit (about 36,000 km). The rest of space is pretty debris-free. Several spacecraft have flown through the main asteroid belt without recording so much as one dust grain collision.
You might think that hitting a piece of dust is no big deal, but it really packs a wallop when moving at a relative speed of thousands of miles per hour. Here’s what a paint chip once did to a window on the space shuttle:
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Thanks David
A paint chip?
Sort of like a fifty meter-wide meteorite creating 1/2 mile wide meteor crater.
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Right Jung, I was thinking of ‘Gravity’ when i posted.
Thanks David.
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I don’t really keep up much with research into radiation shielding, but I think it’s generally assumed that any lengthy human missions, such as to Mars, will inevitably result in an unhealthy amount of radiation damage to tissues. It’s hard to imagine designing a covering that is both dense enough to absorb a lot of energy and light enough to prevent the launch from becoming prohibitively expensive due to the excess weight.
My understanding is that most of the negative effects of zero gravity, except for bone demineralization, can be minimized with rigorous exercise. I’ve seen footage of space station astronauts running on a treadmill, with stiff springs attached to their waist to hold them down.
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David, for long human space travel, it looks like there are still some technological hurdles to overcome to address the radiation, and invent better artificial gravity. I think our NASA scientists need to watch more Star Trek. The transporter could solve a lot of these issues. ????
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Jung and members,
Yet another reason why I love this MLT Club, learning and seeing, this is fabulous and so cool, never knew about this until I seen this now, thank you so much
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Couldn’t agree more Bill. I’ve learned so much at the MLT Club, in both music and so much more.
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I agree, Bill. One of the greatest unexpected benefits of this club is being able to learn from each other about whatever we’re curious about. We’ve all been around long enough to have acquired some expertise in something, and it’s great to be able to tap into that when needed.
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That makes three of us! So far.
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Learning is good, listening to music is almost even better. The following song has been presented here some times before, but it just fits the topic too well.
I will join Jung: Play it again Sam!
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For you space cowboys Jung, David, Tom and Bill I’m launching a whole special New Year’s Eve rocket. All the best for the future. May the force be with you !
HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!
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Very beautiful Juergen
Happy New Year everyone.
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That’s amazing Jurgen to see a space craft launch as viewed from the space. I like the German version of Major Tom. Happy New Year.
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