NOT content with trashing planet Earth, humankind has been messing up space. There are now millions of discarded bits of metal and other materials in orbit – from bits of old rocket parts to accidentally dropped astronaut tools. Oops.
But there have been moves to rectify the situation. A satellite from the University of Surrey has successfully deployed a net in orbit to have a bash at capturing space debris.
The event took place more than 300km above Earth as part of a series of trials to remove the redundant hardware now circling our planet. Some 7500 tonnes is said to be drifting aimlessly about up there, posing a collision hazard to space missions.
The RemoveDebris satellite took a video of its experiment. It shows a shoebox-sized object tumbling about six to eight metres in front of the University of Surrey spacecraft. A bright web, fired from the satellite, travels outwards and smothers the box.
Professor Guglielmo Aglietti, director of the Surrey Space Centre, said: “The target was spinning like you would expect an unco-operative piece of junk to behave, but you can see clearly that the net captures it, and we’re very happy with the way the experiment went.”
The Surrey satellite is the first to try out practical solutions to clean up space. It’s feared that if we do not do a wee bit of housework up in the sky, there will be a significant threat to active satellites.
Alastair Wayman, an engineer with the aerospace firm Airbus, which is also involved in the RemoveDebris project, explained: “If there are collisions, as there have been previously, then they will create lots of space debris. That debris then collides with more spacecraft, and you get even more space debris. It’s a kind of snowball effect.”
Snowballs in space. Jings.
But space debris is a two-way phenomenon. What is up, must come down. Or something. That’s why there’s an amazing meteorite site on Skye.
However, last week geologists raised concerns after rocks from the area were spotted for sale on eBay.
It is feared mineral hunters have been active on the Strathaird Peninsula, where a team recently discovered meteorite deposits from an impact 60 million years ago which include mineral material from space that has not been found on Earth before.
Dr Simon Drake from Birkbeck, University of London, made the finds on Skye with colleague Dr Andy Beard.
He said: “About three weeks ago one of the students working on a project for us alerted us to the fact that our samples were being sold on eBay.
“This guy was selling the meteorite slices of rock for £9.99 per sample and he had at least 10 of them.”
The seller has since been contacted and has removed the items from the online auction site.
Drake continued: “This is going for the price of a fish supper, and it’s 60 million years old. It’s insanity, really.”
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