Australia, U.S. agree to sweep space clean

William Atkins
Monday, 08 November 2010 23:52

Science - Space

Australian and U.S. officials have agreed that they should work together to rid the world of space junk.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd, and Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith met in Melbourne on Monday, November 8, 2010 to discuss junk - specifically space junk.

And, there is a lot to talk about because at least half a million pieces of defunct spacecraft, hammers, cameras, destroyed satellites, and other such items are circling around Earth.

However, space junk was, you might say, on their minds (aka: orbiting around their heads).

So, why do we care about space junk? Well, it is a threat to astronaut safety in outer space. And, it is a danger to functional/operating satellites and spacecraft out there in orbit.

It is also a danger to people here on Earth. A large enough piece of space junk can survive a plunge through our atmosphere and collide with us here on the planet.

So, the four officials agreed to work out a plan (a surveillance system) to better track this space junk, or space debris.

At the 2010 AUSMIN meeting, Australian and U.S. representatives met to discuss more than just space junk. They were there to talk about security and diplomacy issues.

Page two continues with more on the janitorial space services that the United States and Australia hope to provide to the world.