There is too much trash in space

Hey everybody, Yesterday I came across a rather unusual article and it went like "ISRO delayed Chandrayaan-3 launch by 4 seconds to dodge space debris" (Link attached in the end)

To quench my curiosity I started reading more about the problems that space debris posses and here are few of my findings.

What is Space Debris?

Space Debris mainly consists of discarded pieces of spacecrafts like rockets and defunct satellites and more often than not fragments of objects that have deteriorated explosively as a result of anti satellite missile test which stay in orbit .

Is it really dangerous?

Space is not the place to put waste, as it turns pretty much anything into a high-velocity(27,000 Km/h) projectile capable of causing incredible damage.

The damage is not due to the size of the debris but the sheer momentum thanks to its high speed.

And the rise of the private players are exacerbating the process.

Major problems caused by Space Debris are:-

1. Kessler Syndrome, that is creation of more debris due to cascading collisions resulting from one collision.
2. Creates unusable regions in the orbit limiting regions for safe operations.
3. Shortens the lifespan of assets currently in orbit and increased maintenance costs.
4. Endangers the life of astronauts aboard the Space stations and future manned inter planetary missions.

Related Space laws/organizations to curb and regulate space debris:-

• Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee is an international governmental forum for a worldwide coordination of activities related to issues of man-made and natural debris in space. ISRO is a member agency.
• US armed forces wing, Space Force tracks spaces debris and collisions in the lower Earth atmosphere(LEO).
• European space agency has adopted a "Zero debris charter" aiming to mitigate the current risks and reach a goal of zero space debris by 2030.

Way forward:-

• Space based recycling and repurposing.
• Robotic arm and Capture Mechanism.
• Space traffic Management.

I'll research more on the way forward and update in the subsequent posts. Thankyou for reading, looking forward to suggestions and corrections.

Reference:-

https://www.deccanherald.com/science/isro-delayed-chandrayaan-3-launch-by-4-seconds-to-dodge-space-debris-report-says-3000140