Under Lucky Stars-Floating debris could ruin our environment

Under Lucky Stars, the star map company has found* that ‘junk’ and debris consisting of objects such as flecks of paint and defunct satellites  are taking up valuable space in our skies and are impacting our environment.

It says that if we don’t start clearing this up and restricting the number of launches, it could ruin our view of the night sky. It found roughly 500,00 man-made objects and thousands of satellites orbiting our planet today.

Under Lucky Stars: Debris removal

Paul Kostek, IEEE senior member and advisory systems engineer at Base2 solutions, offers the following comments on the methods of removing debris from space:

“Space ‘junk’ and debris entered most people’s awareness when the movie, Gravity, came out and showed a catastrophic loss of the International Space Station (ISS), Space Shuttle and host of satellites.

Today, with an increase in the launch of satellite constellations, along with commercial space companies preparing to enter into space tourism, questions are arising about the impact of space debris and how this can be managed.

This has resulted in several projects being undertaken by the government and companies to find ways to capture and dispose of debris.

Nets, harpoons, and tethers are the most common methods of removing debris in space. One example would be the RemoveDEBRIS satellite, which was flown to the ISS on a Dragon capsule and then launched a demo from the ISS. It was able to capture a target and successfully send it into the earth’s atmosphere”.

Another new project is the ClearSpace1 project, scheduled for launch in 2025. In addition, there is also the cleanup cubeseat called OSCaR (Obsolete Spacecraft Capture and Removal), which would hunt down and de-orbit debris using onboard nets and tethers.

“In the future, we can expect to see more companies and countries entering into this area as more privates launches are done and as more countries look to enter space.”

According to Statista, there are 2,313 satellites currently orbiting the Earth (as of April 2020). When it comes down to the countries most invested in this technology, the data reveals that there are more satellites from the USA than any other country, with a whopping 1,308 satellites launched in their name.

Coming in second is China with 356 satellites which is nearly 1,000 less than the US. And in third place is Multinational with 177 satellites currently in orbit.

But why are there so many satellites in space?

According to the data, 1,440 satellites were launched for commercial purposes. The government is behind 436 satellites and 339 belong to the military. 133 satellites are registered as having civil uses and the remaining 318 have mixed uses.

As humans, we’re keen to learn more about how and when we came to be, including the atmosphere around us. Although necessary to explore time and space, the damage these satellites are leaving behind is continuing to grow, which could eventually lead to damage beyond control.

Zoltan Toth-Czifra, Founder of Under Lucky Stars, says:

“A few satellites may seem like nothing in the vast area of space, but the junk and debris left behind from space activities causes a number of problems, mainly the increased risk of collision.

These designs highlight the impact mankind is having outside of our own planet earth and is a signal that we must clean up our act and monitor launches if we want to continue to explore our perimeters safely.”

With plans to send even more satellites into space by the end of 2020, making a stance is now more important than ever. Join us on our mission to #SaveOurStars and sign our petition below.

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