The sky has started falling and soon, the insurance companies are likely to cover the damages caused by nosediving space debris, as it happened with Lottie Williams when she was walking in a park in Tulsa, Oklahoma in January 1997 when she was hit by a charred fragment which got dislodged from falling Delta-2 booster, a 1-in-3200 chance, according to NASA. More than 50% of the catastrophes which caused a satellite breakdown or the loss of astronauts' lives are attributed to the collision with space debris. Even worse, the self-sustaining junk cloud surrounding our planet has become denser during the last ten years after China fired an anti-satellite missile and a crash that occurred between a Russian and a U.S. satellite in 2009. Little thought was given to the greenhouse effect until the situation grew from bad to worse to handle, similar events are stacking up in space. Even if no country decides to launch a rocket henceforth, the trail of debris already formed threatens to last for centuries.
You can witness one such incidence as described below.
Radiation Disaster of Kosmos-954: January 1978
What can be more alarming when the satellite you launched carrying a nuclear reactor goes into a non-operational mode and moreover, its propellers fail which were supposed to propel the satellite away out of orbit in such nasty eventuality? During the inevitable turn of events that followed, debris from the satellite scattered over Western Canada covering a path of 600 km. Kosmos-954 carried a monstrous 50 kg of radioactive uranium. (Being a radar satellite, energy generated from solar panels is insufficient to track oceans and submarines, hence the need for a nuclear reactor) During the clean-up operation carried out by the joint Canadian-American team, only ten pieces of the satellite were recovered, those were even less than 1% of the total radioactive material of the nuclear reactor. Till date, Northwest Canadian territory remains infected with hazardous radioactivity.
Crash of the Skylab: July 1979
On July 11, 1979, the air all over the globe was thick with fear when NASA announced that the premature crash of its first manned space station – Skylab was imminent. Just a year back, the Soviet satellite Kosmos-954 had crashed in
Northern Canada spreading junk of lethal radioactive uranium. The 77-ton space station was successfully stationed into orbit in 1973 after sketching out a meticulous plan but as much thought was not given to taking it down safely when its life would come to an end. At last, NASA scientists were successful in diverting the tumbling hulk to the Indian Ocean. Skylab crashed with larger debris into the ocean and multiple shards rained down over sparsely populated Southwestern Australia. NASA and American Congress were subjected to worldwide criticism for the thoughtless and mediocre planning of a critical space mission.
The SKYLAB
Disaster of Challenger: January 1986
After completing nine successful space explorations, Challenger was scheduled to lift off for its tenth mission on January 28, 1986. The morning was exceptionally cold which caused rubber rings covering the joints to dysfunction and allowing the leakage of hot fumes to come into contact with liquid oxygen tank which initiated the disastrous explosive reaction. Millions watched the live telecast on television when 73 seconds after its lift off, the space shuttle exploded, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
Glancing Blows by Soyuz TM-18 Spacecraft to Mir: January 1994
After remaining docked to Mir space station for six months, the onboard astronauts of ferry spacecraft Soyuz TM-18 decided to undock and head for home. During their six month stay in space, Mir was subjected to an onslaught of meteor shower without any serious damage. Just after undocking, when Soyuz TM-18 was performing certain proximity photography rounds around Mir, it hit the Mir twice, resulting in temporary loss of communication between ground control, Mir and Soyuz. The masterful piloting by on-board cosmonaut Tsibliyev resulted in the successful retreat of the spaceship from Mir averting a collision with solar arrays, antennas and docking parts which could have sustained very serious damage.
Veered French Satellite Reestablished: August 1996
A spy satellite of the French military, Cerise, was happily making its designated daily rounds in space when, one day, it started to stumble head-over-heels. NASA scientists investigated the cause and found that it was hit by a fragment of rocket Ariane-11, the older version of the same rocket that had launched it and J which had been disintegrated into multiple fragments. In an astounding computerized stunt, the scientists were able to bring Cerise back to its original orbit. Scientists wrote a program for Cerise's computers. Upon activating the program, they were able to re-position its on-board electromagnets to bring it back to normal position by interacting with earth's gravity.
Delta-2 Explosion: January 1997
A 45 million U.S. Air Force navigational satellite... carried by a Delta II rocket with nine boosters and three stage.... with 10,000 gallons of fuel in the first stage alone.... 13 seconds later ... watch the video
Collision Between Mir Space Station and M-34 Spacecraft: June 1997
It was the 52nd visit of the Progress spacecraft to Mir space station. Progress-34 was fired with loving intentions of carrying food, water, oxygen for onboard astronauts and equipment to conduct astronomical research and repair. Its docking and undocking was being monitored by Russian scientist Vasily who was watching the progress of the operation on TV screen in Russia. The cloudy atmosphere made Vasily's perspective go wrong and M-34 approached Mir with a speed that was too difficult to control. The collision took place and Mir sustained severe damages to its solar panel and radiator. This was followed by power outrage and the Mir was knocked into a spin with a big thump. Fortunately, all the damages were repairable and it took several weeks for the Mir to resume back to its normal operations.
Compton Gamma Ray Observatory Fall: June 2000
This 16-ton observatory-cum-satellite was one of the most successful space missions in which CGRO orbited around the earth 51,658 times during ten years. Its legacy included significant observations of supermassive black holes, quasars – a star like object of high luminosity, blazars – quasar with a supermassive black hole in its center, some of which are known to be a million times heavier than the sun, neutron stars – a high density neutron nucleus, which forms when giant stars explode in supernova, etc. After its gyroscope failed, NASA decided to deorbit the observatory in a sequential manner, taking into consideration its huge mass. As the craft entered the atmosphere and began to disintegrate, more than six tons of metal debris, ranging from very small stone sized objects to several hundred pounds of chunks, still managed to reach the surface and splashed into the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii.
Disintegration of Columbia: February 2003
Space shuttle Columbia was returning home from its 28th mission. On the morning of February 1, 2003, just minutes before it was scheduled to launch, a piece of foam-insulation chipped off and damaged its left wing making it vulnerable to atmospheric friction. A loud explosion was heard over Texas in which all the seven astronauts aboard lost their lives. Thousands of pieces of debris were scattered across an area of 28,000 sq. miles.
A Lifetime Banishment of the faithful Galileo: September 2003
Born on earth, circled in the solar system and terminated on Jupiter – This is, in short, the life story of the spacecraft Galileo which added mammoth of new information and a volume of new photographic images to constantly upgrade our knowledge of the solar system. Launched from the space station Atlantis in 1989, Galileo served humanity faithfully for 14 years. Galileo's string of discoveries
include its close contact with asteroids, its observations of a comet colliding with a planet and a detailed study of Jupiter and its moons. Galileo was encircling Europa, one of Jupiter's moons, when it ran out of fuel. It was the time when Galileo had shown evidence of subterranean saltwater and possible life. To protect that life, scientists sent Galileo on a suicide mission of plunging into Jupiter, away from Europa. Galileo disappeared into the cloudy blanket of Jupiter forever on September 21, 2003, after braving many technical problems during its interplanetary voyage.
Don't miss: THE EVER-GROWING MENACE OF SPACE DEBRIS
Operation Burnt Frost: February 2008
It was one of those space operations that boosted the confidence of U.S. Military in its own capabilities which could successfully shut down a non-operational satellite at an altitude of 247 km, whizzing at a speed of 17,000 mph.
When USA-193 refused to work after its successful launch into orbit, the only option was to destroy it before it entered the atmosphere. Even the atmospheric friction could have done this job, but that would have cost us life and fortune as USA-193 contained 1000 lbs of toxic hydrazine. The U.S. Navy was assigned this responsibility. The Aegis warship – Lake Erie – pulled off this eerie feat by firing a missile which intercepted the satellite and blasted it into 174 pieces, although it added significantly to the space debris.
First Collison Between Two Satellites: February 2009
For the first time in history, two artificial satellites orbiting at a speed of around 25,000 km/hr, collided with each other. The collision occurred on February 10, 2009, between Iridium-33 – a U.S. commercial communication satellite and Cosmos-2251 – an obsolete Russian military satellite, weighing 700 kg each. The collision occurred 800 km above Siberia. It is estimated that half of the debris resulting from the collision still circulates in orbit, posing a potential hazard to other space shuttles or satellites.
Chinese Fengyun Slaps Russian BLITS: January 2013
In 2007, China destroyed its 750 kg weather satellite, Fengyun, by firing an anti-satellite missile which shattered the satellite into 2500 traceable and 15000 untraceable fragments.
Five years later, one of the fragments intercepted a Russian nano-satellite, BLITS, which left BLITS spinning out of orbit, prying out two pieces of its skeleton making it non-functional. BLITS was a 7.5 kg glass satellite which was launched by Russia in 2009 for laser reflection studies. This incidence entails serious implications for any satellite which can undergo irreversible damage after being hit by a fragment of space junk.
In the same year (2013), the debris of Russian rocket Tsyklon-3 hit an Equadorian satellite, Pegaso. Its antennae got buckled down rendering it non-operational forever, converting it into yet another piece of debris posing a threat to other spacecraft.
Tiangong-1 Crash: April 2018
It was not an April Fool prank. There was a sudden increase in the number of insomnia patients on 1st April, 2018, when space experts announced that China's Tiangong-1 is going to crash on the surface and that, its precise location was not possible to predict due to its massive speed of 20,000 km/Hr. Thankfully, the out-of-control Chinese bird opted to take a dive in the Pacific Ocean. By the way, Tiangong means Heavenly Palace. J
The San Francisco newspaper Examiner had declared a prize of 10,000$ to anyone who would bring a piece of Skylab's debris to its office within 72 hours of its crash. There in Esperance, Australia, 17-year-old Stan Thornton was robbed of his sleep when Skylab fragments landed on his house like unexpected visitors. Grabbing a few charred bits of the crashed space-station, thinking on impulse, he took the first flight to San Francisco and presented his possessions to them. Examiner examined the junk chunks and complying with their promise, rewarded Stan with 10,000$. This is equivalent to 23,700$ today and a return-ticket from Perth to San Francisco starts from 1100$ (all U.S. dollars) onwards! ๐
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