The Impact of Space Debris on the Environment

Question: Discuss the impact of space debris on the environment? Answer: Introduction The collection of de-functioning man-made objects in space such as spent rocket stages, old satellites, and fragments from disintegration, collision parts and erosion are known as space debris or space junk. There are many sources of space debris. They can be dead spacecraft, lost equipment, boosters as well as weapons. During the past fifty years, nations in the world concerning space-fare have been trashing near the space of the earth without caring about the future effects on the global environment. Every year many satellites and rockets are being launched into the orbit of the earth. As a result, multiple objects have become Resident Space Objects or RSOs (BaiocchiWelser, 2010). This leads to space junk or space debris. Space debris impacts on the outside environment and internal environment of the earth as well. Scanning through the concept of global warming which is a very crucial part of the impact of space junk. The rise in average temperature of the surface of the earth due to the effect of the greenhouse gasses like the emission of carbon dioxide which is emitted from the burning of fossil fuels or deforestation is called Global warming. Global warming traps heat which is prevented from being escaping from the Earth. The effects rise due to global warming is known as greenhouse effects. The gasses which are being emitted due to global warming is called greenhouse gasses. The most significant greenhouse gas is water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone (Loomis, 2015). The slight increase in atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) causes a considerable increase in temperature. Space Debris The space debris is a kind of junk or wastes that have been left by the human in space. In other words, the wastages materials which are no longer serves a useful purpose have been left by astronauts in the space called as space debris. The space debris can be formed by many resources such as discarded equipment, defunct satellites and rocket stages. The satellites can be damaged due to the high speed of the space debris which is running in the orbits of the earth. Also, many times satellites were destroyed due to the collision with the space debris. The space debris is very dangerous for the future space missions. Moreover, there is a huge risk factor is working behind the collisions which lead to the potential damages of rockets and it is increasing continuously. Moreover, this space debris also affects the atmosphere of earth. In other words, it is one of the main reason for global warming(Anderton, 2011). The Types of Space Debris The worlds first artificial satellite was launched in 1957 by the Soviet Union. Many effective reasons were involved behind the satellite launch such as new technological, military, political and scientific developments. During the process of the launch, many space debris was created in space. In that time, many countries including America were starting to send their space shuttles as well as satellites in space without any consideration about the impairment of the environment through the debris of space which has been created by launches of space shuttles as well as space satellites (Stjerna, 2013). To increase the space race, many Governments, as well as cell phone companies, DTH companies, and GPS, receives companies have launched thousands of satellites in space. Also, those satellites increase the majority of the space debris. Therefore, form the year 1957 till today there have been many satellites and space shuttles have been sending into the orbits of the earth and they have m ade a huge amount of space debris in space. Talking about the space ship junk, most of the astronauts left the parts of their rockets and space crafts which are no longer to use in the orbit of the earth because it is very expensive to retrieve those used parts of space ships. As a result, those large space debris were continuously revolving in the earths orbit until they fall back down or collide with other space junk(Stjerna, 2013). On the other hand, when the space shuttles were launched, there more than one rocket boosters were needed for the extra power force which helps to reach high enough to space and those rocket boosters were fired up in one by one stage(Draper Watson, 2006). In other words, those rocket booster does not have any role to play except boosting the main space shuttles. At the time of final stage, the last rocket booster was fired off very late, and other space crafts were getting trapped in the earths orbit. Moreover, those rocket boosters collided with other satellites and create many small pieces of space debris which are very harmful to the environment of earth. There are two types of space debris were discussed in above section which influences the danger for the future mission due to the collision of space debris. Talking about the impact of those space on the space environment is very effective and harmful. Many types of research proved that the space junks which were formed due to the collision of two or more martial space objectives are moving around the orbit of the earth until they were fall back (Stabroth et al., 2008). Apart from that, many space centers left flying fuel tanks in space for the emergency purpose. Whatever, those fuel containers also flow up due to collision with space debris and create massive space junk through the explosion. Moreover, due to the explosion, many raw materials were burned up and create inorganic space wastage which increases the temperature of earths orbit. Minimize the Effects of Space Debris After the accomplishment of the mission, most of the spacecraft left a huge amount of junk in the orbits which is one of the significant reason of space debits. NASA and other space centers should pay more attention to the equipment related junk which was converted into space debris. On the other hand, space shuttles and space satellites should be manufactured according to the space environment(Williamson, 2006). If the space environment is continuously damaged, then the future mission of space journey will be completely hazard. Apart from that, the astronauts should implement the following protection strategies to decrease the space debris. The protection strategy In order prohibit the current space debris population most of the designers of space vehicles implement many protective techniques in their production process. There is a different kind of space debris moving in the orbit of the earth; some space junk might be radioactive. So, the space shuttles and as well as space satellites should be protected by a strong shield. Also, the shield includes some several layers of various natural parts. Polymers like polyvinyl chloride are one of the significant layers of the shield(Bueren, BohemenVisscher, 2011). Collision avoidance in space When two or more space debris crashed into each other, then a collision happens. To decrease the level of the collision, many governments decided that the parts of the satellites should be made according to the catchable shape of ground-based space surveillance systems. NASA and other space centers should be more careful about the current position of their satellites and shuttles(Hu, 2012). The waste materials of the rocket booster are one of the main reasons for collision. After the fired off the booster, the layers of the rocket was separated in the orbits of the earth. On the other hand, the astronauts need to focus on the used materials of themselves should be preserved safely. Talking about the fuel containers that should be handled by experienced astronauts because the explosion of fuel tanks is the significant cause of the collision(Rae, n.d.). Impacts of Space Debris Environment on the Space System Operation The four factors determine that how space debris environment affect the operation of a space system. They are: Time in orbit Orbital altitude Projected area Orbital inclination From the above four factors, time in orbit, orbital altitude and projected area are the dominant factors(Bohannon, 2015). During shuttle mission, satellites also collide which results in large space debris. Apart from large debris, small debris has also caused damaged to operational space systems(Haugen, Musser Lovelace, 2010). The damage can be divided into two parts. The first category of damage is caused to subsystems or surface and the second category is the effect on operations. When other explorers come to space to explore and invent innovative ideas, concepts and planets, they face serious problems with millions of space debris floating in space during their journey(Kortenkamp, 2008). Here are some examples of damage that impact the surface of operational system: The shuttle windows get damaged. The severing of SEDS-2 or Small Expendable Deployer System-2 tether. Other exposed shuttle surface get damaged. HST high gain antenna also gets damaged. During the wide field imaging, the astronomers observe an increase in some trails per plate. These trails are caused by space debris. The space debris trailing entirely negate photometric observation when debris crosses narrow photometric field(Watson, 2015). Impacts of Global Warming and its Measurements As stated by scientists about the model of the climate, that, during the 21st century there will be an increase in temperature of 1.1 degree Celsius to 2.9 degree Celsius. This temperature is the lowest emission scenario and 2.4 degree Celsius to 6.4 degree Celsius is the highest(Dickey Zakaib, 2011). The scientist predicts that a rise in temperature of more than 2.5 degree Celsius could result in great losses in GDP or Gross Domestic Product. The increase in temperature also affects hundreds of millions of people via the increased coastal flooding, increase in health impacts as well as the reduction of water supplies. On the other hand, glaciers have shrunk, lakes are breaking up earlier, plants and animal ranges have shifted, and trees are flowering sooner. According to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or IPCC, the extent of changes in climate impacts on particular regions(Budzianowski, 2011). They will vary over time as well as with the ability of various environmental an d societal systems for mitigation or adaption for a change. Different fuels which can cause global warming is used by spacecraft. However, all the above effects are caused by the spacecraft and its components used. Effective measures to reduce global warming caused due to space debris Here are some ideas for solutions from space("Erratum", 2015). These solutions are however tough and imaginary to accomplish, but the implementation will be different from the ideas. 1. A big asteroid should be dragged with a mass larger than 500000 tons to hide a part of the sunlight. 2. The upper parts of the clouds should be whitened to increase the reflectivity by 3 percent. It will also reflect a larger amount of sunlight(Zastrow, 2014). 3. A big mirror should be launched with a surface are of a 1600000-kilometer square, or many smaller ones circling round the earth. They will reflect 1 percent of sunlight. To normalize the temperature of the earth, this would be enough(Simon, 2010). Now, some realistically possible ideas should be followed for solutions from space. They are as follows: 1. During the space exploration, astronauts should take less amount of principal products with them to minimize the production of waste(Sparrow, 2012). They should make reusable products instead of disposable products. The spacecraft should have a reusable unit where used products are reproduced again for further use. 2. On the walls of the spacecraft and rocket, insulation should be added to minimize the production of heat. While sleeping time, astronauts should switch off the engines to reduce heat production. As a result, global warming will not rise(Allin, 2011). Conclusion During any space mission, when space shuttle leaves Earth and enters the space, it leaves behind the parts in space which is not required for their whole journey. These parts help a space shuttle to leave the earth against the gravitational force. These parts cause space debris. This space debris falls in the category of large space debris. It is a type of pollution caused by humans. Apart from soil, water and air, space is also polluted. It is the responsibility of the science and humans to keep a neat and clean space. References Baiocchi, D., Welser, W. (2010). Confronting space debris. Santa Monica, CA: RAND. Bohannon, J. (2015). Video: Watch 60 years of space junk accumulate in 1 minute. Science. https://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aae0154 Budzianowski, W. (2011). Time delay of global warming. International Journal Of Global Warming, 3(3), 289. https://dx.doi.org/10.1504/ijgw.2011.043424 Dickey Zakaib, G. (2011). Telescope will track space junk. 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