If you thought that Earth's pollution problems were only confined to the surface, think again.
There's a massive junk problem beyond the clouds high up in the heavens – and they all come from the stuff we keep sending up there.
According to the World Economic Forum, there are close to 6,000 satellites orbiting our planet, and about 60 percent of them are defunct and unused – basically space junk floating around and presenting various hazards to Earth's atmosphere.
To combat this problem, Japanese logging and wood processing company Sumitomo Forestry Co. has teamed up with Kyoto University to design and build satellites made out of wood, and they hope to have working prototypes by 2023.
Both will work together to experiment with different types of wood and test them in extreme environments on Earth, emulating conditions quite similar to those faced by satellites launched into orbit – such as severe changes in temperature and unfiltered exposure to sunlight and radiation.
Kyoto University professor and Japanese astronaut Takao Dai explained to the BBC that wooden satellites held one major advantage over their counterparts made from metal – should they fall out of orbit and burn up upon re-entering the atmosphere, they won't release as many harmful particles and dangerous debris.
"We are very concerned with the fact that all the satellites which re-enter the Earth's atmosphere burn and create tiny alumina particles which will float in the upper atmosphere for many years," he said, also adding that "eventually, it will affect the environment of the Earth."
The problem with space junk.
With more satellites being launched into space each year, experts in the field have sounded warnings about the various dangers posed by the sheer amount of debris created as by-products.
Aside from space junk re-entering the atmosphere and falling to Earth, there is also the threat of other functioning satellites colliding with debris and being damaged, which only ends up creating even more debris in our near space.
Space junk travels at speeds exceeding 22,300 mph (35,888 km/h), causing immense damage to anything it comes in contact with. Over the years, there have been numerous incidents involving collisions with satellite debris, including one where a piece of space junk collided with the International Space Station (ISS) and dealt damage to one of its heavily reinforced windows.
As mentioned previously, there's an estimated close-to-6,000 satellites orbiting our planet, with about 60 percent of them defunct, and millions of pieces of harmful debris joining in the mix.
Even more concerning is how that number is set to grow. With more companies looking to launch satellites for the purpose of communications, navigation, weather forecasting, and other uses, it's estimated that about 990 satellites will be sent into space each year over the next decade.
Elon Musk's SpaceX has already launched about 900 Starlink satellites into space, with plans to launch tens of thousands more in the future, while Amazon's Project Kuiper – a project to help provide reliable broadband internet to the world's underserved communities – recently won approval to launch over 3,000 satellites.
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Cover image sourced from BBC and MIT News.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMicGh0dHBzOi8vc2VhLm1hc2hhYmxlLmNvbS9zY2llbmNlLzEzODQwL2phcGFuLWlzLWJ1aWxkaW5nLXdvb2Rlbi1zYXRlbGxpdGVzLWJlY2F1c2UtdGhlcmVzLXRvby1tdWNoLWp1bmstaW4tc3BhY2XSAXZodHRwczovL3NlYS5tYXNoYWJsZS5jb20vc2NpZW5jZS8xMzg0MC9qYXBhbi1pcy1idWlsZGluZy13b29kZW4tc2F0ZWxsaXRlcy1iZWNhdXNlLXRoZXJlcy10b28tbXVjaC1qdW5rLWluLXNwYWNlP2FtcD0x?oc=5
2020-12-31 04:24:00Z
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