The Growing Threat Of Space Debris

THE GROWING THREAT OF SPACE DEBRIS Since the launch of the first artificial satellite in 1957, Earth's orbit has become increasingly filled with man-made space debris, posing a dangerous, ongoing threat to spacecraft and satellites. Today, approximately 20,000 objects are catalogued and routinely monitored. How- ever, with higher resolution tracking and surveillance capabilities, Space Fence – the next generation of debris detection and surveillance – will monitor even smaller objects undetected by current systems, increasing the number of catalogued objects to more than 200,000. WHAT CAN BE TRACKED NOW WHAT SPACE FENCE WILL TRACK -20,000 SPACE DEBRIS OBJECTS -200,000 SPACE DEBRIS OBJECTS TIPPING POINT Space debris has reached a tipping point, an unstoppable chain reaction of collisions. 3 17,000 MPH SPEED OF IMPACT Traveling at nearly 17,000 miles per hour, a debris piece as small as a speck of paint can damage and destroy a satellite. DOCUMENTED DEBRIS: MODERN LIFE RELIES ON SATELLITES IN SPACE FOR: 3. Disabled 4 Abandoned Weather Satellite/ Collision Debris Glove* GPS ATMS Satellite Rocket Part Prediction Digital TV *Dropped by first American spacewalker, Ed White, during 1965 Gemini 4 flight. RECENT COLLISIONS AND NEAR-MISSES III_! 2012: CLOSE CALL 2011: NEAR-MISS 2009: COLLISION 2007: INTENTIONAL DESTRUCTION A piece of debris narrowly missed the International Space Station, forcing crew members to enter their escape capsules and prepare for an emergency evacuation craft accidentally ran in to each other. back to Earth. The intentional destruction of a satellite Iridium 33 and Kosmos-2251 collided, creating a massive cloud of debris and marking the first time two intact space- Remnants of a discarded Russian satellite forced six International Space littered low earth orbit with more than Station astronauts to seek shelter in 900 pieces of debris. escape capsules. Raytheon http://www.raytheon.com/spacefence/ig