According to the BBC website, is full of space junk near-earth orbit sizes and quantity is numerous, for countries to deploy detection equipment (such as satellite) means that the potential threat, and may even cause catastrophic Kessler phenomenon. We have to fill the hole we dug. Different space agencies or companies are committed to finding solutions: using unmanned spacecraft to avoid collisions; Tracking space junk with a telescope array; Use the recycling network, mechanical claw, off the rails and other technologies to clean up the garbage.
Falcon rocket launch successful recently, its two propeller synchronous vertical landing, at the same time, cherry red the tesla roadster and wearing a spacesuit Starman mannequins also follow the rockets fly to space. Space X founder Elon Musk has won widespread praise for the most powerful rocket since the Saturn 5 rocket. But the sports car has sparked controversy.
Mr Musk has orchestrated the sports car, perhaps to pay homage to space science, as well as a marketing success. But at the same time, it will eventually disintegrate into an artificial debris floating in space, posing a potential threat.
Looking up into space, it seems clear and dangerous. More than half a million pieces of space junk are now scattered around the near-earth orbit, and more than 20,000 are about the same size as cricket. The larger space junk has astronauts' gloves, abandoned spacecraft and graded rockets. However, size is not necessarily proportional to the potential threat.
With the launch of a new space race, China, India and other countries have joined in the exploration of the universe, and more and more space junk will be created. The next generation of space scientists will face a stark test of how the potential threat to the planet is rising and how the future of the space probe will not be affected.
To avoid a potentially fatal crisis, space agencies around the world are trying to figure out how to solve the problem of space junk.
NASA's orbital debris program's chief scientist Jer - ChyiLiou said, "the size of a few millimeters orbital debris on most of the detectors on low-earth orbit may be extremely high impact velocity, so through the highest risk."
The maximum speed of these tiny fragments is close to 48,000 kilometers per hour, far more than the bullets fired.
The 55th session of the United Nations scientific and technical subcommittee on the peaceful USES of outer space was held in Vietnam in early February. During the meeting, Liu shared the latest information about the space debris environment and the actions and research carried out by NASA. In 2017 alone, the world has carried out 86 missions and sent more than 400 spacecraft to near-earth orbit.
"There are more than 7,600 tons of debris in the near-earth orbit. The U.S. strategic command's space surveillance network (SSN) is tracking about 23,000 large pieces of debris. Tens of millions of pieces of debris are too small to be tracked, but still pose a threat to manned spaceships and unmanned space equipment.
Kessler phenomenon or collision cascade effect refers to the space debris density to a certain critical point, space debris collision each other cause more impact, more debris, eventually cascade effect, let the whole earth orbit is full of dangerous space debris, let lose to the safe operation of the satellite orbit. Space is an indispensable part of human daily life, remote communication, disaster monitoring is inseparable from the normal operation of the space equipment, losing any satellite means a great loss.
In 2009, America's iridium 33 communications satellite collided with Russia's defunct 2251 satellite, causing a surge in space debris.
Last year, NASA used unmanned spacecraft to carry out 21 collision avoidance maneuvers. Four of them were to avoid debris from the fy-1c satellite, and twice to avoid collisions with iridium 33 and debris left by the 2251 satellite.
Removing obstacles in space by changing the orbit is one way to avoid possible collisions. However, due to the excessive amount of space junk, continuous observation and prediction are necessary.
"NASA USES radar, telescopes, field measurements and other methods to monitor submillimeter space debris (not tracking)," said Liu.
In December 2017, NASA installed a Space Debris Sensor on the international Space station. It is about 1 square meter thick and 20 centimeters thick. It is installed in the Columbus laboratory module in Europe. At least two years, it will be responsible for monitoring the millimeter of space debris, provide them the information such as size, density, velocity and orbital, will also determine the fraction is from space or man-made debris.
About a third of all known space junk in low-earth orbit is caused by the United States.
Space agencies around the world are working to address these hidden dangers. The Russian space agency has teamed up with the Brazilian space agency to set up a new telescope in Brazil to monitor space junk.
There is also a commercial market in this area. Private companies such as America's ExoAnalytic Solutions and Britain's Space Insight are monitoring Space junk and selling it to satellite operators. Space Insight has installed ground sensors in Cyprus.
In Spain, Deimos Sky Survey USES telescope arrays to track near-earth objects such as asteroids and space junk. The company also monitored the tesla roadster that Elon Musk sent to space.
In addition to changing the orbit of space junk to prevent collisions, recycling space junk is also possible. In April, the REMOVEdebris satellite will launch SpaceX's falcon 9 rocket and fly to the international space station to carry out space debris. To test several methods of recovery, two cubesats carried on the satellite will release simulated debris into space. The mission was carried out by the surrey space centre in England.
The center's director Guglielmo Aglietti said that during the task will be tested on four key techniques: fragments visual navigation system, recycling network, fetching mechanical paw and sail away from the rail. The effect is to slow the debris down and eventually fall into the earth's atmosphere.
It may sound strange, but it can play a big part in the larger space junk. It is the size of a pen, designed and manufactured by Airbus Defence & Space.
The test mission will launch a 10-square centimeter panel that is 1.5 meters away from the robotic claw. A mechanical claw with a tethered cord will attempt to puncture and retrieve the panels from the shuttle. The role of the recycling network is to wrap and haul back space junk.
It is a plastic film that can only be tested after mechanical claws and recycling nets. "In the real operation, it will work at the last stage, and it will allow the space junk to drift off course and eventually crash into the earth's atmosphere," he said.
With the successful testing of the REMOVEdebris satellites, they will begin to fulfill the mission of the space cleaners. "We will prove that using relatively cheap technology can accomplish the task of removing space junk," he said. We hope that the technology will attract business investment and begin the task of removing the most dangerous space junk.
Recycling controlled virtual garbage is an important first step. The next phase will be more complicated to clean up uncontrollable space debris. The European space agency is proposing to implement the E.d orbit mission by the end of 2019.
Esa space junk office manager Holger Krag pointed out that "E.d eorbit will prove that we are able to safely remove from orbit uncontrolled waste, this could be the European space agency's satellite, the earth no response. For the first time, we will apply recycling technology to real target satellites.
To get close to the disused satellite, the mission's spacecraft will install sensor components, which is no easy task. "Getting close to the international space station is a big challenge," Krag said. An abandoned satellite is an uncontrollable object that may roll or rotate, so the grasping device must synchronize and fix the satellite as much as possible.
The European space agency has had a thrilling accident. In August 2016, a few centimeters of space debris hit a solar panel in the sentinel 1A satellite, causing a slight drop in power and a slight shift in the orbit and direction of the satellite.
"We are very concerned about the threat of space junk. The European space agency has launched 20 satellites, 10 of which are operating in very dense areas of space junk," said Krag. We need to carry out the anti-collision operation on a regular basis.
But Mr Krag has a pragmatic approach to the problem. "We can only control risk as much as we can, but we can't avoid it completely," he said.