FRAGMENTS FROM A science satellite crashed into the Atlantic Ocean yesterday - but what about next time?
The European Space Agency says one of its research satellites re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere early Monday on an orbit that passed over Siberia, the western Pacific Ocean, the eastern Indian Ocean and Antarctica.
The 1,100-kilogram satellite disintegrated in the atmosphere but about 25 percent of it — about 275 kilograms of “space junk” — slammed into the Atlantic between Antarctica and South America, a few hundred miles from the Falkland Islands, ESA said. It caused no known damage.
The satellite — called the GOCE, for Gravity field and Ocean Circulation Explorer — was launched in 2009 to map the Earth’s gravitational field. The information is being used to understand ocean circulation, sea levels, ice dynamics and the Earth’s interior. The satellite had been gradually descending in orbit over the last three weeks after running out of fuel Oct. 21.
But how much space junk is out there? Here’s a look:
Space junk in the Cosmos
Some 6,600 satellites have been launched. Some 3,600 remain in space but only about 1,000 are still operational, according to ESA. Not all are still intact, and the US Space Surveillance Network tracks some 23,000 space objects, ESA said.
A lot of junk comes down unnoticed, said ESA Space Debris Office deputy head Holger Krag. Statistically, he said, “roughly every week you have a re-entry like GOCE.”
What happens when it falls?
About 100 to 150 metric tons (110 to 165 tons) of space junk re-enters Earth’s atmosphere each year, according to Heiner Klinkrad, the head of ESA’s Space Debris Office.
In 56 years of spaceflight, a total of 15,000 metric tons (16,500 tons) of human-made space objects have re-entered the atmosphere.
How fast do they travel?
Space junk — mostly satellites and rocket stages or fragments — typically travels at about 17,400 mph shortly before re-entry at about 75 miles above the earth, according to ESA.
It starts to slow down and heat up in the dense atmosphere. In the last 10 minutes, it hits a travelling speed roughly equal to that of a Formula One racing car —between 125 mph to 190 mph.
How dangerous is it?
There have been no known human injuries or significant property damage caused by space junk, according to ESA.
Unlike meteorites, which hurl into the Earth as solid chunks travelling about three times faster, space junk typically falls as fragments and is distributed over a fallout zone up to 600 miles long. Krag says fragments from a satellite came down in 2011 over the Netherlands, Germany and the Czech Republic but no pieces were ever found.
Can we redirect these objects?
When systems are still functioning, spacecraft can be maneuvered to try and direct them to land in areas where there would be minimal impact, like into an ocean.
In the case of uncontrolled re-entries, scientists are able to predict where the impact will be — but that can be a very wide swath. The GOCE satellite’s systems kept on working much longer than expected, providing data that Krag said will be invaluable in helping scientists figure out prediction models for future space junk descents.
1979 file image of Skylab, at the end of its mission in 1979 when it crashed back to Earth.
One of the best-known cases is NASA’s Skylab space station, which re-entered in 1979. About 82 tons hit the Earth — some of it in Australia and the rest falling into the Indian Ocean.
Fragments of Russia’s Mir space station weighing about 149 tons came down in 2001 in a controlled dive into the Pacific Ocean. More recently, in 2011, NASA’s UARS satellite crashed into the Pacific and Germany’s ROSAT satellite landed in the Bay of Bengal. None caused any damage.
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