But space junk falling on housetops is not the biggest worry. Scientists are concerned about the “Kessler” syndrome. It is named for the American scientist who first thought of the idea in nineteen seventy-eight. Imagine what happens when an empty rocket strikes another while orbiting the earth. Two big things become many smaller things. They then hit other things. The pieces get smaller and smaller until they form a cloud of junk that blocks the path of future space vehicles.
JIM TEDDER: So what can be done to clean up the space around our planet? Marco Castronuovo, an Italian Space Agency researcher, has an idea. In the publication “Acta Astronautica,” he writes about launching a satellite into space that would get very close to some of the larger pieces of space junk. The satellite would connect a small rocket to the useless object. When the rocket explodes, it pushes the junk into a lower and slower orbit, nearer the Earth. After a time, the junk burns up in the atmosphere.
Mr. Castronuovo has proposed using a number of small satellites with robotic arms. One arm would catch the space junk, and another arm would connect the rocket. He imagines that each satellite would jump from one large piece of junk to another. He thinks this method could destroy about ten large objects each year.
Scientists have been concerned about space junk for many years. Right now, the costs of the clean-up have been too great. Mr. Castronuovo says his system could be put in place for a much more reasonable amount of money.
最新
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25