Space debris has become a new global problem. In the foreseeable future, humanity will no longer be able to safely launch new satellites.
The main problem of the garbage crisis in space is the failure of working satellites in a collision with space debris. Due to high speeds, even particles less than 1 cm are dangerous, they can penetrate the anti-meteorite protection of the orbital station. In a collision with an object of more than 10 cm, any spacecraft or station is guaranteed to be destroyed.
A few years ago, a particle of space debris a hundredth of a millimeter in size flew into the International Space Station (ISS) and left a chip with a diameter of about 7 mm on the ISS. In order to prevent more destructive consequences, the ISS has to regularly change its orbit, dodging debris.
The danger of a garbage crisis in space lies in the gigantic volume, uncontrolled distribution in space, enormous speed and absolute unpredictability of collisions.
Now about 99% of potentially dangerous objects are not controlled at all because of their small size and huge speeds.
Existing space debris threatens to disable the ISS and navigation satellite systems, which will lead to complete chaos on Earth.
Almost all ground-based information systems receive the exact time from GPS satellites. If GPS satellites fail due to equipment obsolescence or a collision with space debris, the global stock exchange and global banking systems will collapse.
Already today, the problem should be solved by the development and launch of space debris collectors.
Can you comment on this issue? How exactly should a space debris collector work and how should space debris be disposed of?