A study by the American space agency reveals that batteries weighing 30 kg and electronic control panels weighing 116 kg may damage active spacecraft
Walla-Science news
American space scientists claim that there is a 1 in 250 chance that debris falling from communication satellites in space will harm any person on Earth. According to a secret study carried out by the American space agency, NASA, there are four types of objects that may survive entering the atmosphere, including batteries weighing 30 kg, and electronic control panels weighing 116 kg.
The study was carried out in April, following the fear in the United States government that a plan to de-orbit 70 communication satellites for 14 months would create a wave of anxiety in the public. The satellites belong to a state-of-the-art communication system known as "Iridium", which allows mobile phone calls anywhere in the world.
The study also shows that in the last year, objects weighing more than 168 kg fell to Earth.
NASA claims that since the Soviets launched the satellite "Sputnik 1957" in 1, it has not been reported that any person has been harmed by satellite debris, even though there have been more than 4,110 re-entries of objects into the atmosphere. However, the space agency claims that the chances of damage will increase to a certain extent in light of the expected increase in the Earth's population in the next hundred years.
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A landfill in space
By Alex Doron and Gabi Kessler, New York
74 satellite scraps that will begin this month to make their way back to Earth and break up into pieces as they enter the atmosphere are putting NASA scientists under pressure. A secret study conducted by the scientists and which was revealed yesterday in the USA revealed that the chance of the satellite particles hitting humans is extremely high in space terms - 1 in 250 (almost half a percent).
9,000 parts are free sailing in space, it turns out, there is quite a bit of junk and scrap. The "space dump" includes at least 9,000 metal items that are floating freely around the earth. Among them you can find fragments of satellites that stopped working and disintegrated in space, but also a screwdriver and a glove with a hard skeleton for manually repairing a wayward satellite, which fell from an astronaut's hand during a "walk in space".
The task of tracking the junk in space was assigned to the US Air Force Space Command. The constant monitoring is necessary since they may pose a danger to manned space shuttles and satellites in general. In 98, for example, a great drama took place in the Maui mountain system, during the space flight in which the elderly astronaut John Glenn participated. The tail of the shuttle was damaged by the impact of a component of a metal door that was detached from its place - from those fragments floating in space. Fortunately, there was no need for an emergency landing, but since that incident, the US space agency has had a constant fear that an astronaut walking around in space will be hit by some piece of metal, even a tiny screw. This is because in space flight everything has to be perfectly smooth and if a screw hits the tail of a shuttle or scratches it, it could disrupt the operation.
The "Motorola" company, which operated the world's first telephone network that operated through satellite communication - "Iridium", recently decided that in the absence of a buyer for the satellite system, there is no point in leaving the useless satellites in space. The 74 satellites it will return to Earth will burn up upon entering the atmosphere and disintegrate into pieces. The procedure to "eliminate" the satellites will last 14 months.
The government document documenting the findings of the research that assesses the chances of damage to the satellite fragments, states that the return of the 74 satellites could cause panic and serious claims against the US government. However, the document states that since 1957, when the former Soviet Union launched the first "Sputnik" into space, there has never been a recorded impact of fragments of satellites on humans on Earth, even though to date no fewer than 4,100 have penetrated the atmosphere and burned up on the way to Earth satellites
Tracking the scrap in space
The US Air Force Space Command tracks the junk in space using a highly advanced electro-optical system. It is the largest optical telescope in the world, placed on top of Mount Haleakala on the island of Maui in Hawaii, above sea level. An IBM supercomputer was also mobilized to assist in this close monitoring.
The optical system includes a camera with a tremendous "zoom" capability. When a suspicious item is observed, the blurry photographs, which appear at first as cloud-fog, are considerably enlarged. Using digital technology, the supercomputer highlights the outline of that suspicious item in the photograph. This is done through a variety of algorithms - the mathematical expressions of the computerized operation features - and evaluation and analysis software.
The supercomputer will make it possible to perform the image processing process in half the time of what has been done so far: instead of six seconds, the clear image of any suspicious object will be obtained in only three seconds. This was stated in the announcement of the American Air Force, referring to the recruitment of the supercomputer. According to them, time plays a very significant role here, when every second counts.
The speed of the digital camera system in the telescope is 256 images per second. "This is similar to producing a small movie from every item that the telescope 'fishes' in space," explained the US Air Force engineers.
The supercomputer is capable of performing 480 billion calculations in one second. It is 40 times faster than the famous "deep blue", which the former world chess champion, Garry Kasparov, faced in '97.
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