'A terrible, terrible thing': NASA said India's satellite destruction created so much space junk it

[G_j]

Source: Business Insider

'A terrible, terrible thing': NASA said India's satellite destruction created so much space junk it now threatens the safety of the International Space Station


Sinead Baker, 4/2/19

NASA said that India has threatened the International Space Station and the astronauts on board by shooting down a satellite with a missile.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said the satellite shattered into small pieces of space junk that pose an "unacceptable" threat to astronauts and called it a "terrible, terrible thing."

India said it deliberately chose to destroy a satellite in low orbit so the debris would not harm the station and other satellites, and said the debris would fall back to earth.

But Bridenstine said that pieces were moving above the station, and "that kind of activity is not compatible with the future of human spaceflight."

..more..

Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-space-junk-india-destroying-missile-threaten-international-space-station-terrible-thing-2019-4

[Roy Rolling]

1. Well, there goes the neighborhood

What could go wrong with dozens of countries operating in earth orbit? Now we know.

[Girard442]

2. Kessler Syndrome...

...is a scenario in which the density of objects in low Earth orbit (LEO) is high enough that collisions between objects could cause a cascade where each collision generates space debris that increases the likelihood of further collisions. One implication is that the distribution of debris in orbit could render space activities and the use of satellites in specific orbital ranges impractical for many generations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome

[Ilsa]

14. Gravity.

Fun scary movie premise.
Good story about perseverance.

[Girard442]

21. Clooney's character was great.

Sense of humor but always the consummate professional.

[d_r]

3. reminded me of the movie

until the end of the world

[OnlinePoker]

4. Wasn't that the basic plot of the movie Gravity?

A satellite exploded and sent a cascade of debris that destroyed other satellites and the space station?

[bullwinkle428]

18. YES - the very first thing I thought of!

[Ilsa]

25. And the space shuttle!

That movie was fun. I loved how she finally developed the resolve to survive.

[OnlinePoker]

26. Weird that they would have the shuttle there (I forgot about it)

The program was cancelled 2 years before the movie came out.

[Ilsa]

27. Yeah, but it works for the movie as Ryan

travels from the shuttle to the ISS to Tiangong (or whatever the Chinese station was named in the movie). The travel, followed by disaster after disaster, keeps us engaged!

[DirtEdonE]

5. Space: The New Frontier

What else did you expect? We already fucked up the old frontier. Next!

I sometimes wonder if there is a Universe Litter Patrol ready to clean up this mess we keep making if it threatens to spread beyond our Solar System?

[Dave Starsky]

7. In the 1970s, there was this NBC TV sci-fi comedy called Quark.

It starred Richard Benjamin as the commander of a crew operating a space garbage truck.

The garbage truck concept was played for laughs, but I have always thought it was a great idea!

[eShirl]

12. Deploy the Space Baggies!

[jayfish]

8. Earth May Care About Our Mess...

but the Universe doesn't give a shit. The amount stuff we put out there is equivalent to a single atom in all the world oceans. ...if not less. What we've done though is endangered our ability to get off this rock. For those who don't quite grasp the gravity of the situation:

[DirtEdonE]

9. Probably done by design

Sounds like someone put us here because they don't want us to get off this rock.

Sounds like we're building the opposite of a Dyson Sphere. A Dyson prison. lol

[roamer65]

20. Given our behaviors, I can definitely see reasons to quarantine us.

Humans are like viruses. They consume and eventually destroy the host.

[yaesu]

6. This was the first thing I thought of when it was first announced BUT

the space force will come to the rescue!

[elleng]

10. Nothing like 'progress.'

[Javaman]

11. in other words...

India just did something colossally stupid.

[BlueFlorida]

29. We have tested similar anti-satellite missiles

and so have Russia and China

[Javaman]

32. I already knew we were stupid. LOL nt

[Purrfessor]

13. To landfillity and beyond!

[Ferrets are Cool]

15. Easy fix...

Didn't Raygun create a Star Wars department? We can just shoot that garbage out of the heavens with the Death Star. Just sayin'.

[karynnj]

16. Even if what they said was true that the junk will fall back to the earth, ISN"T THAT A PROBLEM!

How small is small and how fast will be they be going as they fall?

[jayfish]

17. No.

Almost all of it will be immolated upon re-entry.

[karynnj]

23. Thanks!

[erronis]

31. Immolated? What, no proper spreading of the ashes in the Ganges? And the other bits?

What about the not "Almost all"? Won't the news media need to keep all the world inhabitants hooked on minute-by-minute announcements of possible skyward death arrows?

[IronLionZion]

19. Destroying the earth just isn't enough

humans must destroy the whole universe too. Forget space force. We need a space waste management force to clean up the junk.

[truthisfreedom]

22. Cleanup in orbit 7.

[mahina]

24. Thread winner

[yonder]

28. Sadly, this is another example of humans doing what humans do

Fuck things up just because they can, I guess. Worry about it later, if any worry is to be given. Didn't the Chinese try the same thing several years ago with about the same results?

Satellites for GPS, communication, observation, agriculture, etc. all could suffer because of this bonehead move. Maybe we'll be forced to relearn and start using old school land surveying and navigation techniques. What about aviation? It's like we're slowly being driven back to the ground to where we started by ill-advised pursuits, and we haven't been treating Mother Earth to damn well either. No time for soaring when we've got military-corpo-industrial stonehumpers driving our bus to oblivion.

I'm just sick of this "Hold my beer, watch this" mentality. Lowest fucking common denominator is what we seem to be striving for.



end o'rant.

[BlueFlorida]

30. India is the fourth country to do this

No one complained when we did it, the Russians did it or the Chinese did it.

[yonder]

33. Can't say I know who "no one" is but I do recall some squawking when China did it.

As far as other countries taking no flack, little surprise there as folks controlling that message have a death grip on the wheel.

My point remains, no matter how many times this has or will have happened, this is just another example of us humans doing what we do while we shit ourselves out of our nest(s).