Shocking Space Debris Images

ACK! No wonder in all those futuristic sci-fi stories we've left earth FAR FAR behind!

Seriously?. Space "junk" is the smallest problem we have and it is not very disturbing at all, so "don't panic" as written on top of the guide. You will more likely get struck by lightning than by space junk.
Once we plan to build greater structures in space we'll be glad to have the material already up there. This again lowers the numbers of flights we have to do, and again this is greener.
In space no one has to care, unlike in the polluted oceans...

Have a nice day, jp

WHy is this image shocking? It's radically exaggerated. I'm not saying this isn't a problem but that image is hugely misleading.

The more trouble the Pentagon has weaponizing space, the better off we'll all be.

More. Junk. In. Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace!

Man litters every environment with his garbage.

Space is just the newest trash bin.
.... .... .... "what, me worry?" .... .... .... we are mad.

Add me to the group who think that using such a misleading image incredibly detracts from the message.

If someone gives a realistic assessment of the problem, I might start listening. For example, with strikes from small objects, how much of these are from "space junk" and how much from the usual kind of micro-meteorites?

I don't see an explanation of what exactly caused the damage to the Hubble cited above. Was it actually space junk that caused the problem?

Needs an "objects in artist rendering not to scale" disclaimer.

satellites need to burn fuel intermittently to maintain orbit, so the bad news is this stuff will come down eventually and (hopefully) burn up. It's just chance if they will hit other satellites and create more space debris, and some of the objects are potentially big enough to hit land.

I'm with jp - this graphic is not a photograph. It is, as the original article states (and you should, too), an "abgebildete Grafik." It looks scary, because the artist wanted it to look scary.

My question: What is the actual probability that space junk will cause problems for working satellites? If it were high, you would think that communications companies and governments would be worried.

I'm not afraid of the space junk, but isn't it sad that we continue to pollute where ever we go! Why must we foul up our water, our air, our land and now even the space which we are hardly even using yet. Makes you wonder what's to come!

As one of the few species who fouls its own next and anything else it touches ... we should be concerned ...
As a species we will ultimately get what's coming to us ... unfortunately, at least at first, it is those who inflict the least damage on the planet who will suffer most.

What's alarming is not that we're in any danger, or that there are any directly-related environmental side-effects; rather, this is a disturbing illustration the extent of human carelessness. We don't care about our air, our water, our soil, so it's hardly surprising that we would care about anything outside of our atmosphere.

This doesn't stir up worry so much as it stirs up anger.

When I go back-packing, the rule is: pack it in, pack it out. Why can't NASA employ the same rules?

The cost for cleanup would be, as they say, astronomical. The waste in contaminated by the space radiation and retrieving it is costly and safely disposing of it even more so. So the best treatment is just to let it burn up in the atmosphere especially when considering much of the waste is the size of small nuts, bolts, hammers, and other things practically impossible to retrieve.

You would think all this junk would help reduce global warming by blocking sunlight and reflecting it back out into space...

I wonder, how this picture would have looked like, if it would have been about our current level of pollution on Earth. There would have been just piles of rubbish, no human at all...or we are just a rubbish making species, until we learn something more sustainable and polite to other living species or to finally extinct.
However, I think this picture could have changed a lot in the space planning departments, if promoted loud and wide. We simply need to collect the rubbish we produce on the spot and recycle it later, even though it is highly radioactive material.
p.s.
Robots are going to collect our waste, soon...):

I wonder what happens if a US/Russian/Chinese spy satellite gets taken out by a piece of junk quietly one night on the opposite side of the world to the listening stations.
It would be tough for the owner to just see it as an unfortunate accident!

I agree with Tony, it's our careless attitude of "In space no one has to care, unlike in the polluted oceans" that gets us into a mess. Before it was, "In the oceans no one has to care, unlike in the polluted earth; in the earth no one has to care, unlike in our polluted house" and so on and so forth.

We must realise that we can't continue acting like children, throwing our rubbish anywhere we want just because we are in our don't-care-post-teen-angst stage... Grow up!

Yup it's like plastic, CO2 and nuclear waste - we always think we're so clever when we make the things, but what happens after?
Who cares, this is PROGRESS you luddite!

**Once we plan to build greater structures in space we'll be glad to have the material already up there.**

This is dumb.

There are really only 31 pieces of space junk that I'm worried about (so far as I know). Discarded nuclear reactors from the old soviet RORSAT program, just hanging out in space, waiting to deorbit (after maybe being hit by ANOTHER peiece of junk) and kill us all.

http://www.space.com/news/mystery_monday_040329.html

makes you think

There is a good manga series devoted to this issue: planetes.

It's about the crew of a garbage-truck-in-space. They try to prevent the "Kessler syndrome", which will happen, wenn pieces of junk collide and produce a plethora of small projectiles.

THIS IS SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT, HUMANS ALWAYS HAS BEEN RELATED TO GARBAGE IN SPACE IS JUNK, BUT AT THE END IS GARBAGE AND WE MUST CREATED A NEW SPACE CONCIOUS TO KEEP IT CLEAN, TO KEEP IT BEAUTIFUL AND VERY MUCH THE WAY IT WAS BEFORE WE WERE THERE.

Yes space junk is a problem and will increasingly be more of a problem in the future. However, how this story is presented it comes off as overblown space propaganda.
If there were that much space junk we wouldn't be able to see the stars or the even Moon for that matter. I understand they are trying to make a visual depiction of the problem... but c'mon, seriously. This is ridicuous and people will be misled by it.

This picture is very disturbing......no only have we succesfully overcrowded our earth by human population, and it's digust that comes with it....not to forget GREED! But we have also created a waste land for space...."It AINT RIGHT" We are pathetic, lets go green....save what we can for our future. We can not stop procreation, but we can teach correct methods that will make a change for future life times. One, Question....Why would the government not have been smart enough to figure out a way to release or destroy, eliminate the waste they are and have created....isn't there a balance of some sorts???discover space-save space!

GOD BLESS YOU ALL!!!

THANK GOD EARTH IS LOCATED SO FAR FROM THE NEAREST SOLAR SYSTEM THAT WE CAN'T GO THERE WITH OUR ROCKET SYSTEMS TO MESS THEM UP. IT WILL TAKE THE SPEED OF LIGHT TO REACH ANOTHER STAR SYSTEM IN A HUMAN LIFETIME. I HOPE OUR SPACE PROGRAM IS DISMANTLED, AND THE MONEY SAVED IS USED TO HEAL AND CLEAN UP OUR PLANET. THE ONLY ONE WE HAVE.

it would actually be shocking if it was to scale

It does not need to be to scale. It is shocking that humans have learned nothing from our past. No one thought the rivers could get so dirty they would burn. No one thought the air would get so dirty that asthma and lung-related deaths would spike. No one thought we could damage the huge stratosphere of earth and cause climate crisis. But let's just litter space, I sure there is enough space that we won't regret it.

As soon as there is a Space Station, there will be a Rotary Club and they will organize a Clean Up Space Day. Problem solved.

This isn't just an issue with NASA (as someone knee-jerked commented), but an issue with all of the space administrations from different nations or collections of nations.

Also, as the linked article mentioned, "According to Flury, at the end of 2003, there were some 10 000 catalogued debris objects around Earth, comprising:" (Source: http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMHDJXJD1E_FeatureWeek_0.html)

Yes, the original image is a bit exaggerated, but wha's not exaggerated is the number of objects which are circling the Earth and posing a hazard to man-made satellites.

The article continues with, " There are many thousands more uncatalogued objects larger than 1 cm — perhaps more than 50 000; no one really knows the exact count.

Uncatalogued objects include bits of aluminum slag from solid rocket motor propellant and droplets of Sodium-Potassium coolant that escaped from Russian nuclear-powered reconnaissance satellites when they ejected their reactor cores."

This is most certainly a worry, especially if we want to continue having a safe Space program, at least while we are on this planet.

this is not one of our biggest prblems . we have may pollutions that we on earth now we have a greater proble

Eventually, the sun won't be able to get through to us. Then we'll have to worry about a global ice age instead of global warming.
I keep thinking....every single problem on earth can be traced to overpopulation. But nobody wants to say the words.
We won't perish in a ball of fire..........our demise will be brought about by our own stupidity.

I agree with you Baculus. I just hope we smarten up soon. Space as well as the Earth are so beautiful. Why are we destroying them? We are a filthy, wasteful world. We need to wake up and start seeing the damage we are doing and rectify it. Not by making more junk to get rid of the other junk.

Should send them up with a Wagbag and tell them LNT.!

NASA ESA and the other agencies are all very concerned about this problem and currently conducting research into solutions. The cost to NASA for a mission to go wrong when a piece of space debris be that junk or micrometeor impacts a spacecraft is itself astronomic. Missions still cost billions, and if an impact causes the death of an astronaut then NASA must face severe questions from the US government. The Columbia disaster was an example of something as simple as a piece of the rocket itself breaking away during launch and hitting another piece of the spacecraft which then caused a catastrophic disintegration of the whole spacecraft upon re-entry killing the entire crew. To suggest that NASA takes any impact event lightly is tragic, they do not want to see their friends and colleagues die in this dreadful way. Neither do they want missions grounded for months and costs quadrupling. Private satelite missions cost millions and if they fail through a disastrous impact it could even cause the company to collapse. The many satelites we now have in orbit have also been and still are extremely valuable in research into river estuary erosion, industrial pollution, sea algae blooms, deforestation, oil spills, etc, and this includes the Military spy satelites which are often borrowed by government agencies to survey natural and man made disasters. One recent government use of satelites was from a private firm in britain which makes microsatelites for geosurveys which was requested by the British Government to loan its satelite to Burma after the Tsunammi. The sat was quickly flown over the area and transmitted photos and videos of the flooded areas. These were then used by aid agencies to ensure aid was sent to the most affected areas. Satelites and space research are GOOD and POSITIVE activites which benefit all people in our world and the space agencies are the best people to tackle any debris and in fact are doing so. I agree that the photo above tends to look exagerated which was no doubt the journalists intent. Three things I think all people should remember when criticising space travel.
1. GPS is used throughout the world by search and rescue at sea in mountains etc, by aid agencies, and maybe even your mobile phone
2. If it were not for space travel the lovely blue marble that so many green people talk about would not be seen in the same way. We have only properly been able to appreciate the earth in the few decades since we have been able to see it in its entirety from space.
3. More damage to the environment has been done before we could travel in space than since, including the damage often inflicted in ancient times by prehistoric tribes who were not so green as some people think, and in fact more measures to tackle environmental damage have begun since we have been able to travel outside our atmosphere than ever happened before that.

Mike Marshall of NASA I presume, thank your for your contribution, which puts things in a different perspective. Perhaps you can keep us updated on the the research that NASA is conducting concerning the space debris and the measurements that are taken (legislation?) to prevent it in the future.

There could be a compromise though. If all that is junked in space is done so in a single plane around the equator, it would at least look pretty! We could have a ringed planet in no time at all. That would be so romantic and couples would produce more kids and those kids would grow up and become researchers and make more space junk and the rings would get brighter making them more romantic.... uh-oh!

I agree with Tony also. Why must us humans destroy everything natural and beautiful? I sort of ashamed to be in the same species as the idiots who think that there is nothing wrong.
I mean COME ON PEOPLE!
If you can get the junk in space, I'm sure that the geniuses that put it up there can get it out. put it on the sun, recycle it, DO SOMETHING! Sadly I'm just a seventh grader, so I don't know much about space travel, but the people in NASA do!

Like one smart guy said, "The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away the small stones"
- William Faulker
Well I've spoken my mind. Kelly Green shoving off!

I agree with jason. you would think it would reflect sunlight. :)

how is it dangerous to Earth

I also agree with Tony. SERIOUSLY PEOPLE, THIS IS THE ONLY PLANET WE GET, SO TAKE CARE OF IT. Call me a tree hugger or space hugger or whatever, but what about when Earth gets so polluted we have to leave? If we continue to pollute space, we won't be ABLE to leave. Put it this way: would you rather go green and help the planet, even if just a little, or would you rather go on polluting, have to leave Earth, and blow up hitting a peice of space junk? We're not NASA people, but we can always help.

Unfortunatly, it's hard to undo the damage we've already done to our planet. We can't prevent it from happening, but we can at least TRY to cut down on the polluting. Remember, this is the only planet we got.

(Robots are awesome)
I don't think this image is edited!! I think it's real and it's very bad to junk up space!!!

I love you bob robot! I think your so right!!
Why do people have to pollute the area around us and the area around that area??

please people please stop calling it fake or an exaggeration so just please do something to help clean it up! It is a bit not realistic but there still is a lot in space. Save the last frontier environment!

It's The Kesler effect... The great space debris, critical mass gravitational cascade... look it up! It won't be pretty. (I think "Kesler" is right (?)).