![]() With the arrival of mega constellations like SpaceX's Starlink, satellite numbers are expected to increase from about 3,000 today to tens of thousands in the near future. Satellite must routinely dodge space junk, and the rates are rapidly increasing. AN UNRULY chunk of rocket debris is thought to have crashed into the Moon. In space, meanwhile, there is an ever-growing risk of collision events between debris. China’s spaceflight agency said wreckage of the 23-metric-ton (25.4 tons) Long March 5B hit Earth over the sea in the southwestern Philippines with the vast majority of the debris burning up. Earlier today, May 9, an uncontrolled piece of Chinese rocket debris crashed into the Indian Ocean, narrowly avoiding the islands. Remnants of a massive Chinese rocket fell back to Earth over the Indian Ocean on Saturday, leading US space officials to again criticize China’s lack. The chances of you being hit by space junk are exceedingly low, perhaps one in several trillion – but the chances of damage being caused are much less remote. Countries are liable for damage caused, but not much else. ![]() The Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) sets a loose 25-year-guideline for operators to remove satellites at the end of their lifetime, but nations are responsible for enforcing this themselves.Ĭrashing into another satellite could pose legal ramifications, yet none materialized between Iridium and Russia in 2009 – Iridium couldn’t work out who to take action against.Īnd even littering debris on Earth results in little more than a slap on the wrist from others. A Long March-5B Y2 rocket carrying the core module of Chinas space station, Tianhe, blasts off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on April 29, 2021, in Wenchang, Hainan Province of China. Yet there is no “space police” to control these activities. NASA was jokingly fined $400 for littering after Skylab's re-entry. Astronomers believe the rocket piece that will crash into the moon next month came from a Chinese Long March 3C rocket, which launched in October 2014. ![]()
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