1. Orbital Debris
Max Williams
video

2. What Is Orbital Debris? Space junk!
Human’s have been launching things into space since 1957.
~ 21,000 objects larger than a softball are actively tracked by NASA and the DOD
Hundreds of thousands of objects larger than a tennis ball
Tens of millions of objects larger than 1 mm.

4. What Kinds of Debris are Floating Around In Earth’s Orbit?
Flecks of paint from spacecraft
Flecks of metal from spacecraft
Fragmentation from every explosion, disintegration, collision, and erosion that has occurred during space missions
Spent rocket stages
Inactive and defunct satellites (some as large as a truck!)
Note: Most debris from large satellites and rockets will fall to Earth, but much of it remains in space.

5. Astronauts are Clumsy Spatula Camera (2007) video $100,000 tool bag
Glove (1965 Gemini 4, first space walk)
1,400 lb. tank of ammonia
Camera (2007) video
Pliers (2007)
Astronaut urine
Gene Roddenberry’s ashes

6. How Do We Know?
Orbital Debris Engineering Models (ORDEM) from NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office
NASA, DOD, and ESA RADAR networks actively track debris categorized by size

7. Attention Pilots: DANGER!

8. Impact On Space Travel Debris velocity: ~ 17,000 mph
A 1 cm. piece of debris has the same kinetic energy as a huge metal safe flying at 60 mph.
Average impact velocity: over 23,000 mph
Depends on direction of space craft travel
Example: International Space Station
ISS regularly adjusts its position to avoid “Red Conjunction” incidents

9. Impact on Digital Communications
Space debris can collide with communications satellites that control everyday functions on Earth

10. 2009 Satellite Collision
American Iridium 33 satellite collides with Russian Cosmos 2251 satellite
Produced 2200 trackable fragments and countless smaller, untrackable ones.

12. Debris Field Projections
NASA’s LEGEND model
3D model of debris field with prediction models
Private sector model development (usually sponsored by U.S. government entities)
Ex. The Aerospace Corporation’s ADEPT model

13. Information Sources NASA Debris field growth Astronauts losing things
Debris field growth
Astronauts losing things
Debris tracking
Impact on industries
Projections

14. Image Sources