William Atkins
Monday, 23 March 2009 19:21
Science -
Space
Page 2 of 3
By 4:30 p.m., about one-half hour later, they had turned the Station and Shuttle by 180 degrees so that the Shuttle was leading the Station as the pair orbits about the Earth.
Such a change in position increases the atmospheric drag on the structure, which should be enough to slow them down by about one foot per second in forward speed.
That reduction will drop them to a slightly lower orbit about the Earth and to a safer section of space. So, now, one circle is smaller than the other one, and there is much less chance of colliding with one another.
According to NASA flight director Kwatsi Alibaruho, “
Space debris is becoming an ever-increasing challenge.” With three near misses in the past several weeks, NASA is having to increasingly deal with these pesky unwanted visitors in orbit. [Los Angeles Times (March 23, 2009): “
Shuttle and space station dodge debris”]
Alibaruho adds,
"…it's a big deal. It's very tiring. Sometimes it's exhausting." [Los Angeles Times]
Although these visitors are unwanted and increase the danger to the well-being of both humans and machines in space, they are not unknown to space agencies around the world.
These pieces of space junk are just like all of the junk we have lying around here on Earth. If we would place more of an emphasis on cleaning up space (and Earth) these pieces of space debris (and Earth debris) wouldn’t cause such a nuisance and danger in space (and on Earth) and wouldn’t be such an eyesore.
Page three talks about solutions to this space junk problem, along with a comment from ISS commander Mike Fincke.
