Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Wherever man goes he messes up!


These are computer generated images of space junk. 19,000 objects, 10 cm or larger that no longer serve a useful purpose in space. Of course none of these existed before man first launched things into space. Running into a piece of space junk can be deadly as these pieces are traveling very quickly and can punch a hole in a space ship.

In the first picture which shows high earth orbit, a distinct line can be seen abut 40,000 kms out from the earth. This is the place where satellites can remain stationary over a spot on the earths surface. Of course they are not stationary as they spin around the earth as quickly as the earth rotates.

In the second picture the space junk in a low earth orbit are shown. This is much more congested than the high earth orbit. Not so long ago two satellites collided and both were destroyed. Satellites have also been moved to avoid running into a piece of space junk.

So it is crazy but humans pollute everywhere they go, including space.

No comments:

Post a Comment