The first artificial object was sent to space in October 4th 1957 and this opened the way for astronomers and space scientist to keep sending things to outer earth orbit. Currently, UNOOSA (United Nation Office for Outer space Affair) said there are about 8378 satellite in space with 4994 are orbiting around earth, 7 are holding other celestial bodies and from this, only 2218 satellites are in perfect conditions and operational. This satellites looks like they are overcrowding the earth orbit you will say but there are still 18,000 artificial objects being tracked by NASA around the earth orbit. From this, I could say that the earth orbit is crowded but is it for some people who want to change the world? Although so many commercial space companies and telecommunication company has sent satellites into space for internet connection, some countries still send a lot of satellites into space like the US and China sending spy satellites into space and some other countries still send satellite to space.
On May 24, 2019, Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched their first batch of Starlink’s satellites which was a combination of 60 satellite for the first batch and will still be sending 12,000 satellites for faster intenet speed which he calls space internet. A telecommunication firm in the UK known as One Web plans to send 20,000 satellite into earth orbit for 5G connection. The Satellite numbers in space are increasing and it is causing a lot of concern but with private space companies bringing a new world to the industry instead of for war purposes which has been the main reason why most countries put in satellite to space, this companies want to make human lives better from space.
Starlink with the goal of creating unending, uninterrupted internet to the world has decided to send its first batch of satellite to space orbit and the company manufactures a minimum of 6 satellites daily which will be sent to space in earth orbit for internet connection. It is believed that about 4 billion people in the world are without internet (I am sure Africa has the highest numbers, just a guess because I know how Africa is underdeveloped). SpaceX wants to bring faster and uninterrupted internet connection that which network provider’s fiber optic cable which goes through the Atlantic Ocean and other surfaces can’t do with latency issues causing network interruption. With SpaceX, all the latency and distance issue van be solved by SpaceX satellite sending seamless beams of data to earth with no ground interference.
Is SpaceX going to contribute to Space Debris?
The 4994 working satellites in space have become over 30,000 satellites and although SpaceX has done its first launch, the company will still bending more satellite up to 12,000 satellites and will still get as many as 30,000 satellites approval in the future. What will happen to the earth’s orbital space following all these launches, and will SpaceX not be contributing to the waste on space?
SpaceX says that when their satellites use up their lifespan, they will be utilizing their Falcon 9 to de-orbit the satellite and keep space clean within few months but if that fails, the satellite will burn up within 5 years which means the space will be free again.