3 ms·

> anything that weighs more than a couple of grams So where are you reading about the size distribution of the debris?

jacquesm 5y ago
Here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosmos_1408 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosmos_1408 and here https://www.reuters.com/world/us-military-reports-debris-generating-event-outer-space-2021-11-15/ https://www.reuters.com/world/us-military-reports-debris-gen... A 2.2 ton satellite + whatever the mass of the anti satellite weapon creates a cloud of 1500 trackable fragments, so fragments large enough to be tracked by radar from Earth. See here: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/news/orbital_debris.html https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/news/orbital_debr... "There are approximately 23,000 pieces of debris larger than a softball orbiting the Earth. They travel at speeds up to 17,500 mph, fast enough for a relatively small piece of orbital debris to damage a satellite or a spacecraft. There are half a million pieces of debris the size of a marble or larger (up to 0.4 inches, or 1 centimeter) or larger, and approximately 100 million pieces of debris about .04 inches (or one millimeter) and larger. There is even more smaller micrometer-sized (0.000039 of an inch in diameter) debris. Even tiny paint flecks can damage a spacecraft when traveling at these velocities. A number of space shuttle windows were replaced because of damage caused by material that was analyzed and shown to be paint flecks. In fact, millimeter-sized orbital debris represents the highest mission-ending risk to most robotic spacecraft operating in low Earth orbit." So, that's 2.2 tons, split up into 1500 larger pieces (anywhere from a few cm upwards) which is > 5% of the larger pieces that were already in orbit, and a multitude of smaller objects. Each of these has the capability to damage or destroy other spacecraft in that orbit.

Here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosmos_1408 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosmos_1408 and here https://www.reuters.com/world/us-military-reports-debris-generating-event-outer-space-2021-11-15/ https://www.reuters.com/world/us-military-reports-debris-gen... A 2.2 ton satellite + whatever the mass of the anti satellite weapon creates a cloud of 1500 trackable fragments, so fragments large enough to be tracked by radar from Earth. See here: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/news/orbital_debris.html https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/news/orbital_debr... "There are approximately 23,000 pieces of debris larger than a softball orbiting the Earth. They travel at speeds up to 17,500 mph, fast enough for a relatively small piece of orbital debris to damage a satellite or a spacecraft. There are half a million pieces of debris the size of a marble or larger (up to 0.4 inches, or 1 centimeter) or larger, and approximately 100 million pieces of debris about .04 inches (or one millimeter) and larger. There is even more smaller micrometer-sized (0.000039 of an inch in diameter) debris. Even tiny paint flecks can damage a spacecraft when traveling at these velocities. A number of space shuttle windows were replaced because of damage caused by material that was analyzed and shown to be paint flecks. In fact, millimeter-sized orbital debris represents the highest mission-ending risk to most robotic spacecraft operating in low Earth orbit." So, that's 2.2 tons, split up into 1500 larger pieces (anywhere from a few cm upwards) which is > 5% of the larger pieces that were already in orbit, and a multitude of smaller objects. Each of these has the capability to damage or destroy other spacecraft in that orbit.