in

Two satellites are about to make an incredibly close pass in Earth orbit

It’s easy to imagine the area around Earth being so incredibly large that there’s no way we could ever clog it with manmade debris. Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. Humans have launched a whole lot of hardware into orbit around Earth, and every once in a while, two of those objects end up on a collision course.

As Space.com reports, two satellites are on a near-collision course today, and while the odds of a crash are slim, a collision would create a whole bunch of additional space junk that could pose a major problem for future missions.

Based on current observations of the satellites, it looks like they’ll manage to miss each other at a distance of as little as 13 meters. However, there’s still a very small chance that the data is slightly off and that the two machines will indeed crash.

The satellites themselves have long since been decommissioned. The Infrared Astronomical Satellite and the Gravity Gradient Stabilization Experiment are essentially dead, but they’ve remained in Earth orbit long after they stopped being useful.

That’s one of the biggest issues with the current “space junk” problem. Space agencies launch hardware into orbit without much regard for where it might end up after those machines complete their missions. Satellites eventually deorbit, slamming into Earth’s atmosphere and being totally destroyed in the process, but for some satellites, it can take years or even decades for that to happen.

If the two satellites collide, the damage they do to each other would likely create many more pieces of debris. That material would be sent flying at unpredictable angles, and future rocket launches and satellite missions would need to account for that debris in order to keep their own hardware safe.

Mike Wehner has reported on technology and video games for the past decade, covering breaking news and trends in VR, wearables, smartphones, and future tech.

Most recently, Mike served as Tech Editor at The Daily Dot, and has been featured in USA Today, Time.com, and countless other web and print outlets. His love of
reporting is second only to his gaming addiction.

Source from :

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings

    Voyager 2 is acting strange, and it’s up to NASA to figure out why

    ‘BioShock: The Collection’ and ‘The Sims 4’ are free on PlayStation Plus in February 2020