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David Wright Listen to a podcast from David Wright of the Union of Concerned Scientists. |
Specialists at NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) think debris poses little immediate danger to spacecraft. They also think the risk will grow exponentially if action is not taken now to limit the creation of debris and to reduce the volume of existing debris. David Wright of the Union of Concerned Scientists estimates the average time between collisions involving a piece of debris greater than 1 cm in size and an active satellite in low Earth orbit is now 2-3 years. Heiner Klinkrad of ESA says spaceflight in low Earth orbit could become too hazardous to undertake in 50 years. In 100 years, communications satellites in geostationary orbit could have a 40 per cent chance of being struck by debris during their operational lifetimes. |
Risk to Satellites
