Apparently there is an argument among spaceologists as to how long satellite debris floating around the earth will stay "up there." The difference in opinion ranges from decades or a century or so on one hand to ten thousand years on the other hand . Details here.
- Log in to post comments
More like this
Sitting on top of enough explosive stuff to send a heavy weight into orbit at a high speed is dangerous, and that has cost lives in the space program. Re-entering the earth's atmosphere, effectively imitating a meteor as it burns up owing to the translation of the aforereferenced kinetic energy…
Almost exactly one year ago, a very large double strength tsunami struck the Pacific Coast of Japan and washed a huge amount of stuff out into the sea. The oceanic born debris of terrestrial origin looked in places like this:
source
Subsequently attempts were made to model the movement of the…
A few days ago, my family was wandering the ruins of the Roman Forum. I explained to my daughters that the fragments of pillars around us were very old. Veronica, who is four, wanted to know how old.
They were made before she was born, I explained. Before her sister Charlotte was born.
Before…
Try this: Starting at home, drive, run, ski, or walk about fifty thousand feet. That would be about ten miles, or 15 kilometers. It won't take you long (especially if you drive) and chances are, when you get there, it will be a place at least vaguely familiar to you. At the very least, it will…
Jeffrey Lewis over at armscontrolwonk was been on this issue for years, and has had a lot of useful commentary over there the last few days.
A short bit in the news was about space debris falling in Texas just in the last few days. The report hinted that it was probably from the satellite collision. I am sceptical that it would be coming down this soon.
At what point does this become dangerous for airline flying? Debris falling from the sky, an amount consistent enough to warrant serious concern?
It sounds to me like you've got the best opinion of a debris guy (Johnson) up against the statement to reporters of an ISS chief (Solovyov). All other things being equal, I'll take Johnson's numbers.
I assume that these bits are going slower and/or burned up before they hit the airplanes, and airplanes are going kinda slow also. But the relative velocities of space dibris still in orbit and satellites or space stations in orbit can be enormous.
Phil Plait over at Bad Astronmy has a good write up about the collision and the recent fireball.