At 12:15 p.m. CDT (17:15 UTC) on Monday, September 16, 2024, we’ll talk live about space junk and other human-made space hazards with astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell. He is a space historian and the author of Jonathan’s Space Report. And he’s concerned about the consequences of humanity’s presence in Earth-orbit, about how we’re already polluting our new home in space. McDowell has said:
The track record of the human species is not that great. All of these issues that cause us trouble here on Earth, we’re going to export them into space. That’s just the way it is.
As an illustration, the first satellite – Sputnik – was launched to Earth-orbit in 1957. Then for decades, the world was shooting around 150 objects per year – satellites, probes and landers, crew capsules, space station modules – into Earth-orbit.
But, in 2017, everything changed. The number of launches skyrocketed. In 2023, humanity flung 2,664 objects into Earth-orbit. Almost all of them are still up there. NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office estimates there are more than 25,000 objects drifting free in Earth-orbit 4 inches (10 cm) or larger. Nearly 500,000 smaller bits of space junk – 0.4 to 4 inches (1-10 cm) – and 100 million microscopic particles pepper low Earth orbit. In 2022, their mass exceeded 19.8 million pounds (8.9 million kg).
McDowell put the possible danger plainly in the HBO documentary Wild, Wild Space. Watch the Wild, Wild Space trailer below:
Meet astronomer, astrophysicist and spaceflight expert Jonathan McDowell
Bottom line: Astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell will discuss humans’ unexpected impacts on space LIVE with EarthSky at 12:15 p.m. (17:15 UTC) on Monday, September 16. Join us!
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