What almost 70yrs of space flight has left behind.

Space “trashsteroids” coming in hot.

Direct link to interactive tracking display.

https://platform.leolabs.space/visualizations/leo

Keep your hardhats ready.

Cheers.

But will it work?

Space junk is causing clutter around the Earth, but a small cube could help cut back on trash.

A small high-tech cube made by Australian engineers and scientists has just been launched into space for the first time — and it could be a solution to the growing space junk problem.

Space is set to become more crowded than ever, with tens of thousands of satellites predicted to be launched into Earth's orbit over the next decade.

Space archaeologist Alice Gorman said with that influx of spacecraft would come the waste that they leave behind.

"Space junk refers to all of the old satellites and fragments of satellites and tiny particles that are in ... orbit at the moment," Dr Gorman said.

"A conservative estimate is that there are around 37,000 pieces of junk that are larger than 10 centimetres in size. If we go below 10 centimetres then there are hundreds of millions of tiny little fragments.

"For decades people have been relying on it being incinerated in the atmosphere to pull it out of orbit, but we're putting more stuff up there than is being pulled out, so we have an urgent problem.".....

I hope that it does.

Cheers.

There are no rules in space. Japan fears that could lead to collisions, a junk cascade or even war.

In January 2022, space watchers were startled when a Chinese satellite suddenly moved from its usual path around the globe, docked with a derelict spacecraft and flung it into what's known as a "graveyard orbit".

Shijian-21's move to get rid of the defunct weather satellite, Beidou-2 G2, was done during daylight hours, when it's hard for telescopes to observe satellites.

It's a manoeuvre that would typically be celebrated.

Decades of space flight have left the area above earth's stratosphere — the thermosphere and exosphere — increasingly cluttered, filled with dead satellites, abandoned pieces of rockets, and tiny pieces of spacecraft that have become dislodged.

There's a real need to clean up the area or face the increasing risk of space debris colliding with a live satellite, crippling vital communications, or global positioning systems.

But some observers viewed China's manoeuvre with deep suspicion......

So far, Elon and co. have launched around 4,100 satellites out of a planned 12,000 (and maybe 30K after that if approved).

In my book from now on for every new satellite Musk chucks into space he should have to de-orbit at least ten of his existing ones. And if he decides that's too much for him to endure he should be required to de-orbit the lot within 6 months, no questions, just get rid of them all.

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

SpaceX are by far one of the better satellite companies...

Their launch orbits are such that any non-operational StarLinks quickly naturally deorbit in weeks.

Their main shell satellites are deliberately deorbited before EOL. They are also low enough that they will naturally deorbit in a few years even if completely dead.


Contrast that with the recklessness from such as China and Russia...

We are already in the early stages of a Kessler syndrome gaining momentum...


Fly safe?...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Get your hardhats ready again.

Soviet spacecraft Kosmos 482 expected to crash back to Earth next week. Here's what you need to know.

A Soviet-era spacecraft that never made it to Venus more than 50 years ago is finally about to plunge back to Earth.

That's according to academic and satellite watcher Marco Langbroek from Delft Technical University in the Netherlands, who has been keeping an eye on the Soviet spacecraft called Kosmos 482 for the past few years.

So, as we get closer to the deadline, here are five quick questions on Kosmos 482, and what you need to know about the falling spacecraft......

......Kosmos 483 has had a good 53 years up there, but all things that come up must come down, and Dr Langbroek's modelling suggests that'll be May 10, give or take a couple of days.

Astronomers had known for a while that the spacecraft was soon to make its descent......

......Dr Langbroek said it's quite possible that the lander will survive re-entry because it was built to withstand a descent through the carbon-dioxide-thick atmosphere of Venus.

But at this point in time it's too early to tell where the spacecraft will land — or if it will burn up before landing.

Experts doubt the parachute system would work after so many years and the heat shield may also be compromised after so long in orbit.

It would be better if the heat shield fails, which would cause the spacecraft to burn up during its dive through the atmosphere, Jonathan McDowell at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said.

But if the heat shield holds, "it'll re-enter intact and you have a half-ton metal object falling from the sky", Dr McDowell said......

Time is almost up, but there are still so many questions that can't be answered.

Soviet Kosmos 482 probe will crash back to Earth. But where will it land?

A decades-old Soviet spacecraft originally bound for Venus will crash down to Earth within the next 48 hours, according to experts.

They've been tracking the progress of Kosmos 482 — a 500-kilogram failed probe that was launched 53 years ago....

.....Latest predictions suggest Kosmos 482 may land sometime on Saturday (Australian time) but there is a window of uncertainty either side of that so it may land even earlier.

Currently, Kosmos 482 is circling the planet at an orbit of around 140 kilometres at its lowest and 260km at its highest.

This is rapidly dropping as it tumbles around the Earth, and experts predict the probe will soon hit the point of no return.....

.....It's tricky to exactly predict when an object like Kosmos 482 will come down, but that pales in comparison when trying to work out where it might land.

Aerospace Corporation has created a prediction map that highlights the predicted path — or ground track — of Kosmos 482 during the re-entry window, which appears to cover a lot of the Earth, including parts of Australia....

........Photographs taken in both 2014 and 2024 by amateur astronomer Ralf Vandebergh show a small thin structure trailing the spacecraft, which he suggested may be the parachute, although others disagree.

But even if the spacecraft does have a parachute, it's unlikely to slow the descent, which could be around 250 km per hour.

At that speed the probe is going so fast it will be hard to see and the fireball it produces is unlikely to be spectacular, according to Aerospace's Mr Sorge.

"You're not getting a cloud of shrapnel that's falling down," he said.

"It's just a cannonball."

The last reported contact was over the Indian Ocean.

Soviet spacecraft Kosmos 482 plunges to Earth after 53 years stuck in orbit.

A Soviet-era spacecraft has plunged to Earth, more than a half-century after its failed launch to Venus.

Russia's space agency said it believed the Kosmos 482 lander made an uncontrolled re-entry over the Indian Ocean, while European and US agencies were unsure just where it ended up.

The European Space Agency’s space debris office also tracked the spacecraft's doom after it failed to appear over a German radar station.

Encased in titanium, the craft was built to withstand the oppressive 460 degree Celcius heat of Venus, raising concerns it would not burn up upon re-entry.......

Anything known about radioactive stuff aboard this spacecraft? How did they power Venus probes back then? Solar array? Atomic battery? So, hopefully this spacecraft burned thoroughly during decent and crumbled into tiny pieces over the ocean, where the water masses can safely dilute it.