By Pefanis Dimitris (B class)

It is evident that every person on this Earth has attempted to imagine how our precious planet appears from above. Although we have seen a lot of photos of the Earth taken from space, the image of an earth alone in the inky blackness of space is false. Unfortunately, the picture of a junkyard surrounding the planet is far more real.

There are millions of pieces of rubbish that orbit around earth due to the planet’s gravitational field. Those pieces come from dead spacecraft, usually from inactive and abandoned satellites and space stations. Researchers from NASA suggest that at least 18.000 pieces of debris (10cm minimum) are circling the earth with other items even smaller in size that are not yet classified.

All those debris and items orbit in high velocities (higher than 18.000mph). For that reason, they are a threat to every space mission. Take into consideration that all those pieces are able to tear through space suits, not to mention the damage they can cause to International Space Station or the space shuttle. And of course, the military and commercial flights are also in peril.

In order to deal with this problem the company known as “Star Inc” has introduced the Electrodynamic Debris Eliminator (Edde), funded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. It weighs around 100kg and it has nets attached on it that are able to scoop up any piece of junk. According to its designers, a dozen of these craft will take only seven years to remove all 2,465 identified objects over 2kg floating in low-earth orbit. Although it is a quite promising, it is still in experimental face and we are not yet certain of the results.

All in all, space trash is quite an alarming issue that requires attention from all the scientific society. It is certain that if humanity takes the proper measures, this problem will surely be eliminated.

Source:

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/aug/22/pollution-litter-space-edde-darpa