Space Junk

Amazon, the company, is in the satellite launch business. It is behaving like a sovereign nation. Of course, launches, orbits and time in service have to be coordinated with the military. Not knowing what's up there would be a hazard to navigation.
 
TomcatViP said:
Sending them to the Sun will require a lot of energy that might prove too expensive to sustain. But the idea might make sense if dead sats are first collected (empty starship?), eventually processed to retrieve materials and electronics and then de-orbited in bulk for the sun to burn.
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As I have already mentioned here, the easiest and the cheapest way to deal with space junk ( dead sats ) is to send them to the atmosphere of Earth and make them burn down there.
 
Flyaway said:
The large number of re-entries of satellits from megaconstellations may cause a second ozone hole.

www.space.com

Air pollution from reentering megaconstellation satellites could cause ozone hole 2.0

When defunct satellites burn in the atmosphere, they leave behind chemicals that could damage the ozone layer and affect how much light Earth absorbs.
www.space.com www.space.com
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How does the albido of aluminum oxide compare with the albido of titanium oxide, or residue from burnt carbon fiber composites?
 
#CZ5B debris found near the border of Malaysia and Indonesia, that is more than 1200km from the splash location disclosed by CMSA
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https://twitter.com/x/status/1554163205261258752
View: https://twitter.com/CNSpaceflight/status/1554163205261258752

https://twitter.com/x/status/1554514723843948544
View: https://twitter.com/cnsawatcher/status/1554514723843948544


Fairing of Long March 5B Y3 rocket (CZ5B) found in Philippine . Expecting briefings from CNSA/CMS. Source: share.api.weibo.cn/share/32535354…
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So, CZ-5B recap: signficant debris falls in Kalimantan, Indonesia and Sawarak, Malaysia (both on Borneo). No casualties or property damage reported, but debris is near villages and a few hundred metres either way could have been a different story.
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https://twitter.com/x/status/1554113609248161792
View: https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1554113609248161792
 
A SpaceX representative says a team will travel to Australia after the recent discovery of a large piece of space junk on an outback property, saying the incident is "within the expected analysed space of what can happen".
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www.abc.net.au

SpaceX to 'check out' outback space junk site, saying fall to Earth 'within expectations'

A SpaceX representative says a team will travel to Australia after the recent discovery of a large piece of space junk on an outback property, saying the incident is "within the expected analysed space of what can happen".
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au
 
Send up a Caterpillar D-9 bulldozer with thrusters instead of tracks and an electric powerplant and solar panels.
 
https://twitter.com/x/status/1683561138317828096
View: https://twitter.com/esaoperations/status/1683561138317828096


#Aeolus reentry #operations, day 1: first manoeuvre successfully completed!

Today saw the largest thruster firing in #Aeolus’s five years in orbit:

Altitude lowered by ~ 30 km
⏲️Burn duration: 37 min 24 secs
⛽️Fuel consumption: ~ 6 kg

Find out more️ https://blogs.esa.int/rocketscience/2023/07/24/aeolus-reentry-live/
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Remember, Aeolus was not designed for this ending. It was ‘meant’ to naturally fall in an uncontrolled reentry – its propulsion system and fuel reserves were not designed to allow the satellite to be controlled down to the required altitudes for a fully controlled reentry.
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https://twitter.com/x/status/1683561805430374402
View: https://twitter.com/esaoperations/status/1683561805430374402


With this campaign, ESA engineers and operators are pushing the satellite to the limits of what it can do.

The success of this first manoeuvre bodes well for the rest of the campaign.

#ByeByeAeolus️
#SustainableSpace♻️
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Related video that explains more:

View: https://youtu.be/f1FKeqJVvXI
 
I’m late to the party. So much to address. I spoke to Dr. Kessler of Kessler syndrome notoriety due to working on space law Liability. On a call, I’ve never really met him. Paraphrasing, “I wish there was never such a thing as Kessler Syndrome” me “sure, it looks bleak” him “No, I mean I retired and every year someone tracks me down and I have to do this interview”…as it stands the law is intentionally vague. Who own the airspace over the U.S. above 60,000ft to what point? The Von Karman line? Which, varies in locale. Signatories of the more established rules say you cant own anything in space. Orbits and frequencies are kind of owned. 2nd rule expedited by Sputnik beating us and overflying is kind of a lot. No nukes in space. Guess where ICBMs go. Someone planted a flag on the moon. Traditionally that’s the beginning of a claim. Nations buy a LOT of insurance, in part because the launching nation bares the liability on objects that come down where they shouldn’t. We hit Australia. Russia hit Canada etc. Hydrozene is bad for scrappers. A lot to put but that’s a good start. All factors In debris.
 
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For details on most objects I recommend space-track.org. No affiliation just my preferred site. They maintain a catalogue of “SSA” space situational awareness objects. The former term for the conglomeration of all the tech doing space activities. The objects making it in the catalogue are added chronologically. For example the ISS is 25544. 00003 and 00005 of the top of my head are the oldest still up there. There hasn’t been the rule that anything going up has to be be out of the way within 99 years very long. And that rule can be met by going into an out of the way orbit with thousands of years persisting. And there is a Tesla with a mannequin somewhere not in earth orbit.
 
Not a great place for this to happen.
spacenews.com

Intelsat 33e breaks up in geostationary orbit

The Intelsat 33e satellite has broken up in geostationary orbit and lost power, ceasing communications services for customers across Europe, Africa and parts of Asia Pacific
spacenews.com spacenews.com

theconversation.com

4,300 tonnes of space junk and rising: another satellite breakup adds to orbital debris woes

The Intelsat 33e communications satellite unexpectedly broke up in orbit, creating at least 20 fragments. How do we track the growing amounts of orbital debris?
theconversation.com theconversation.com
 
Let's suppose one smartass guy want to "mine" old comsats in GEO graveyard orbit - to clean the belt and recover precious metals (figure a Starship with a canadarm picking dead sats).

If he collects an old russian sat, does that cause any issue ? I mean, is Russia still the owner of that junk, and thus would oppose the pick ?

Same for private companies like Intelsat.
 

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