Latest Space debris Stories

ESA’s GOCE satellite is not only mapping Earth’s gravity with unrivalled precision, but is also revealing new insight into air density and wind in space. This additional information is expected to improve the design and operation of future Earth observation missions. Most satellites orbit Earth higher than 400 km. Lower than that and atmospheric drag causes them to slow down quickly and reenter the atmosphere prematurely. This posed a problem for the designers of the GOCE mission....

Next year’s Hollywood film Gravity features George Clooney stranded in orbit by cascading space junk. The threat is genuine, with debris levels rising steadily. ESA’s new Clean Space initiative is developing methods of preserving near-Earth space – and the terrestrial environment, too. Responding to public environmental concerns, Clean Space aims to reduce the environmental effect of Europe’s space activities, cutting waste and pollution on Earth and in orbit. Industry is...

A Penn State engineer suggests that finding and identifying extraterrestrial life may require a big leap in robotics. John D. Mathews, professor of electrical engineering, wrote in the current issue of the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society that if there are aliens out there, they may not be eager to meet humans. He said that only by developing self-replicating robotic spacecraft would the human race be capable of efficiently exploring the vastness of the universe. "If...

An ionic motor for small satellites The first prototype of a new, ultra-compact motor that will allow small satellites to journey beyond Earth's orbit is just making its way out of the EPFL laboratories where it was built. The goal of the micro motor: to drastically reduce the cost of space exploration. Imagine reaching the Moon using just a tenth of a liter of fuel. With their ionic motor, MicroThrust, EPFL scientists and their European partners are making this a reality and ushering...

Protecting the Earth from an extinction-threatening asteroid has in the past been left up to Hollywood, which has deployed a barrage of special effects box office blockbusters that have kept deadly space rocks from smashing our planet into oblivion. But now, Scottish engineers have come up with a plausible way of dealing with asteroids that doesn’t include Hollywood special effects. Engineers at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow are developing an innovative technique based on...

MOORESTOWN, N.J., March 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- A prototype of a new radar system developed by a Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT]-led team is now tracking orbiting space objects, bringing the U.S. Air Force's Space Fence program one step closer to revolutionizing our nation's space situational awareness. Utilizing powerful, new ground-based radars, Space Fence will enhance the way the U.S. detects, tracks, measures and catalogs orbiting objects and space debris with improved accuracy,...

Swiss scientists said they are planning to launch a satellite specifically designed to help get rid of space junk. The "janitor satellite" will cost $11-million and is being built by the Swiss Space Center at the Swiss Federal Institute for Technology in Lausanne (EPFL). EPFL said its launch would come within three to five years. On its first mission the CleanSpace One will grab one of two Swiss satellites launched in 2009 and 2010. According to NASA, over 500,000 pieces of space...

Russian officials said on Monday that they still could not say for certain where the Phobos-Grunt space probe landed upon its return to Earth, despite reports over the weekend that it had landed in the Pacific Ocean. According to MSNBC reports Sunday, the satellite's re-entry was believed to have occurred at approximately 12:45 Eastern time, and the debris zone was believed to be 775 miles – or 1,250 kilometers – west of Wellington Island in the South Pacific. That information was...

International Space Station crew members are set to maneuver the space lab out of the way of an orbiting piece of space debris left over from a 2009 collision of two satellites, after US Space Command informed the station flight control team Wednesday of the potential hazard. On Thursday, ISS ballistics officers confirmed the path of the debris and radioed Flight Director Emily Nelson that the debris has the potential of making impact with the station. As a result, Nelson gave the OK to...

MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Just as the crippled Russian satellite, Phobos-Grunt, threatens to fall from our sky, the film "Space Junk 3D" will open in IMAX® and other giant screen theaters in both 2D and 3D, beginning January 13th. The movie is the first to explore the exponentially expanding ring of manmade debris that threatens the safety of our planet's orbits. To view the multimedia assets associated with this release, please click...