space junk
Science

Australia To Do Its Part Fighting Space Junk

Gizmodo AU

You know that scene in Wall-E where the rocket blasts through a seemingly impenetrable layer of crap orbiting the planet? Europe doesn’t want that to happen, so they drafted up some guidelines to prevent it. Turns out Australia doesn’t want it to happen either, as K-Rudd announced yesterday.

September 22, 2011
Science

What It Feels Like To Get Hit By Falling Space Junk

We know that at least one person has been hit by space junk. Her name is Lottie Williams and she was hit by a piece of a Delta II rocket that fell to earth in 1997.

September 9, 2011
Science

6-Tonne Satellite Will Fall To Earth Soon

The Earth’s orbit is a giant wasteland filled with space junk — about 20,000 pieces of debris that are four inches or larger. This space junk doesn’t always stay in space; sometimes it falls back to Earth.

August 10, 2011
Science

New Technique Could Rid Space Of Junk In Just 4000 Years

The earth’s orbit is littered with about 20,000 pieces of space junk measuring four inches or larger. Pieces smaller than that are in the tens of millions, according to NASA.

June 29, 2011
Science

Astronauts Evacuate As Junk Nearly Hits International Space Station

Astronauts at the International Space Station had to rush into the two docked Soyuz spaceships as space debris nearly hit their homebase, passing just 250m from it. In space, that’s a pretty close call.

March 12, 2011
Science

12 Pieces Of Fallen Space Debris

Not all space-borne objects touch down as gracefully as the space shuttle Discovery. Our friends at Ooobject.com have some examples of of objects that took a more… direct route.

November 26, 2010
Science

Russia Spending $US2b To Play Garbage Man In Outer Space

All those defunct satellites up in space? They don’t just float away into the ether. Instead, they make space travel dangerous. That’s why Russia is spending $US2 billion on a craft to clean up around 600 pieces of space junk.

August 17, 2010
Science

DARPA Building A Gigantic Space Net To Clean Up Space Junk

Earth’s orbit is cluttered with dead satellites and other assorted space junk, making it increasingly dangerous for the International Space Station and new satellites. DARPA’s solution? Catch ‘em all in a big ol’ net.

August 4, 2010
Science

The Most Beautiful Way To Clean-Up Space Junk

Space junk is everything from spent rocket upper-stages that measure metres across, to lost bags of tools let go by careless astronauts, to shattered Chinese satellites to flecks of paint moving at 25 times the speed of sound. Under the wrong circumstances any piece of junk could kill a perfectly good satellite or even an unlucky space-walker. How should we prevent dead satellites from adding to this dangerous cloud of debris? 

October 17, 2009
Science

Pensioners Attacked By Space Junk And/Or Aliens

What weighs 1.8kg, is made of metal and crashes through roofs at supersonic speeds? If you are a retired couple living in West Hull, Britain, the Royal Air Force says that’s a chunk of space junk.

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