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As I understand it, the majority of junk is 1. 480 million copper pins the US military put into orbit[0] and 2. 150k pieces of junk from the Chinese anti-satell
by lkbm 5y ago
As I understand it, the majority of junk is 1. 480 million copper pins the US military put into orbit[0] and 2. 150k pieces of junk from the Chinese anti-satellite weapon test/demonstration[1].
So if we're going to charge someone for this, first and foremost are the US and Chinese militaries.
Who's going to make them pay up?
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_West_Ford https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_West_Ford
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Chinese_anti-satellite_missile_test https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Chinese_anti-satellite_mi...
- aikinai 5y agoThanks for linking to the interesting story, but it doesn’t agree with your comment. Wikipedia says there are only 36 clumps of needles left in orbit.
- lkbm 5y agoGood catch. I didn't fully reread it before posting. I was also unsure if the individual needles were still around, but the article says they'd have decayed after ~3 years, so it's just those few clumps that are relevant.
- jcun4128 5y agothat is cool "artificial ionosphere"
- gridspy 5y ago*36 known clumps Individual needles are probably too small for radar to track, but not too small to punch a hole in your vessel. Fortunately some have re-entered.