Space Debris facts
While investigating facts about Space Debris Map and Space Debris Removal, I found out little known, but curios details like:
After the space shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003 the debris field stretched from Texas through Louisiana, and the search team was so thorough they found nearly 84,000 pieces of the shuttle, as well as a number of murder victims and a few meth labs.
how space debris is created?
In 2007 China tested a missile and shot down one of their own satellites, accidentally creating 2,087 pieces of space debris on crazy orbits, all of which are now required to be tracked to avoid space collisions
What happens to space debris?
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what is space debris made of. Here are 50 of the best facts about Space Debris Tracking and Space Debris Falling To Earth I managed to collect.
what space debris is on mars?
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In 1979, a small town in Australia fined the United States $400 for littering after debris from NASA's Skylab space station landed in the town. The fine was paid in 2009.
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Lottie Williams is the only person to have been hit by re-entering space debris. She was walking through a park in Tulsa Oklahoma in Jan 1997 at 3:30 am and felt a tapping on her shoulder. It was a piece of the fuel tank of a Delta II rocket launched in 1996. She was unhurt.
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There is so much space debris in earth's atmosphere that in future it may just become dangerous to leave earth and we may get trapped in our own garbage.
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Skylab, the first U.S. space station, cost $2.2 billion but was occupied for only 6 months of its 6 years in orbit. It was damaged during launch and eventually fell to Earth on July 11, 1979. The debris fell on western Australia, and the Shire of Esperance fined NASA A$400 for littering.
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The US and Russian sections of the International Space Station use different shields to protect against orbital debris, and if the station is under threat, the crew all move to the Russian section because it is considered to be better protected.
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Scientists are working on plans to equip the International Space Station with a laser cannon to zap space debris in an effort to clean up the 3,000 tons of discarded satellites and other garbage in orbit
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Around half of all the debris in space today comes from just two events: a 2007 anti-satellite test by the Chinese government, and an accidental 2009 collision between two satellites.
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The US Air Force maintaines a team that logs and tracks space debris. Over 20,000 items, ball sized or larger, and 500K marble-sized pieces are being tracked. They're traveling at 28,000 KMPH. A single speck of paint could cause extreme damage to spacecraft or kill an astronaut on a space walk.
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Taco Bell ran a promotion in 2001 that coordinated with the crash landing of the MIR space station. If the core of the space station debris had hit a target floating in the Pacific ocean, every US citizen would have received a free taco.
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On a gated road past the summit of Haleakala Mountain is the Haleakala Observatory. This is where satellites and other debris that orbits the earth are tracked as part of the Maui Space Surveillance System.
Space Debris data charts
For your convenience take a look at Space Debris figures with stats and charts presented as graphic.
Why doesn't space debris fall to earth?
You can easily fact check why is space debris dangerous by examining the linked well-known sources.
Meteor showers are usually caused by debris from comets. When Earth moves through those debris trails, we then see more comets.
The human body sinks in avalanche debris quickly. After the avalanche snow slide has begun to slow, a buried victim should clear space to breathe and punch their hand upward, before the snow slide stops as the snow becomes like concrete immediately.
Black holes are not empty and are actually full of debris that it has collected from space.
The United States launched 480 million needles into orbit during the cold war in an attempt to create an artificial ionosphere to counter Soviet sabotage of communications. Some clumps are still in orbit and are a contributor to space debris
There is a spacecraft graveyard in the South Pacific ocean known as "Point Nemo". The furthest point on the map from land, it's home to over 300 space craft and debris, including the MIR space station. - source
When space debris blazes through the earth's atmosphere?
Space debris is slowly locking us up on this planet!
How space debris travels crossword?
China shot down one of their satellites in 2007 while testing a missile. The debris must all be tracked now to avoid space collisions - all 2,087 pieces of it.
The European Space Agency is planning an active space debris removal mission called e.Deorbit.
Approximately 1/3 of all tracked space debris orbiting earth comes from the breakup of just 2 satellites.
There is a proposed planetary defense plan to use a high energy laser network as to destroy incoming dangerous space debris such as asteroids, comets, and more.
A meteor shower is usually the result of debris from a broken comet.
