Space pollution references the damaging of the natural space environment by man-made objects. Space pollution in this context narrows down to man-made debris floating outside earth. As of November 2018, there were at least 4,500 catalogues of satellites and 14,000 old rocket components orbiting the earth, both of which were categorized as space junk ( Wong, 2018) .
The effects of the space junk include abrasion on spacecraft due to small particle impacts or due to collisions with larger objects in space. These particles carry tremendous amounts of energy because of their relatively high velocities. For instance, a very small object such as a paint fluke moving at an average speed of 10 kilometers per second can damage spacecraft surfaces and their components. It is the energy factor of the space debris that make them overly dangerous. As a consequence of the regular bombardment with these high energy space debris, a majority of spacecraft components such as windows have to be replaced from time to time due to the damages acquired in the orbits.
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Remediation to space pollution would entail two strategies: prevention and mitigation. Prevention requires that the space crafts are designed in such a way as to minimize the impacts of collision by space junk. Mitigation entails measures that are aimed at reducing the concentration of debris in the outer space.
Mitigation remains the most feasible approach of dealing with space debris. Mitigation would take three courses. One, would be the use of powerful lasers that break up the debris into very small particles that are less harmful. Two, the experts can shoot gas to the debris to slow the debris down so that they can re-enter the earth’s atmosphere. Three, the astronauts could use electric tether, which is a cable traversing the Earth’s magnetic field to generate electric current that could pull back the space junk back to the atmosphere.
Puffing the gas on the debris orbits has the advantage of pulling them to the atmosphere where they waste away in friction. This leaves no residue behind to cause future abrasion problems. The only challenge with this technique is the energy cost required to jet enough atmospheric air into space so as to create a drag that changes their trajectory to the earth’s atmosphere. Using laser shots has the advantage of reducing the size of the debris, which would then reduce the magnitude of harm due to collisions. The disadvantage is that the residue is not completely eradicated from the space. The advantage of using the electric whip is similar to that of pumping air into the space. But, the challenge lies in the tremendous technology cost necessary to achieve a successful drag of the debris from space using the tether.
References
Wong, D. (2018, December 14). What is space junk and why is it a problem? South China Morning Post. https://multimedia.scmp.com/news/world/article/2177933/space-debris/index.html
