lswcap
In Earth’s orbit, there are various objects launched by mankind, such as satellites and space stations. That number, of course, continues to increase, so the risk of collision is also increasing.
Bigelow Aerospace, a U.S. company promoting civilian space exploration projects, recently received a message from the U.S. Air Force warning of the danger of a collision. Launched by the company in 2007, the Genesis II served as an experimental space station before retiring in 2011. It is still in Earth’s orbit, and in 2020 it was scheduled to go out of orbit and fall off Earth.
However, it was warned by the US Air Force that the risk of Genesis II colliding with the Russian satellite Cosmos 1300 increased to 5.6% within 15 hours. It is a low probability, but it is an example of how low-orbit environments are increasingly filled with garbage.
Bigelow Aerospace tweeted. Both Genesis II and Cosmos 1300 have already played their roles, and even if they collide, there is no practical damage. However, collision debris can spread to Earth’s orbit and increase the risk of other new collisions. If this is the momentum, this situation is alarming in that an accident may become inevitable due to congestion in orbit due to satellites launched by each country without regulation.
Today, we were notified by the US Air Force that there is a 5.6% chance that Genesis II will collide with dead Russian satellite Cosmos 1300 in 15 hours. Although this is a relatively low probability, it brings to light that low Earth orbit is becoming increasingly more littered. pic.twitter.com/l6McbDgRNo
— Bigelow Aerospace (@BigelowSpace) September 17, 2019
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
It is also said that this was the first time Biglow Aerospace warned of such a collision risk. If there is a probability of 10% or more, the likelihood of a real collision is very high, but in order to respond quickly to this situation in the future, a policy may be needed to give the new satellite the ability to correct orbit after retirement.
In addition, Genesis II is also subject to such risk predictions due to its large size compared to normal satellites, but smaller and older satellites can collide relatively frequently, leading to space debris generation. Efforts may be needed to make regulations so that space is no longer a dangerous place.
Add comment