Space debris forces ISS to swerve: ‘Serious leak will come one day’

NASA is currently more than following 22,000 objects that are larger than 10 centimeters. Of these, 21,000 are classified as space waste. The space organization also estimates that there are about half a million particles between 1 and 10 centimeters in endless orbit around the Earth and that there are probably tens of millions of pieces of debris smaller than one centimeter flying around.

Watch out for cascade effect

Those smallest particles, such as paint splinters, can already cause damage, says Kuipers. “This can be seen in the ISS by small holes in the windows.” The station is therefore protected with a kind of bulletproof jacket, on which particles can burst and then be collected by several layers. “But it will happen one day that there will be a serious leak in the ISS,” predicts Kuipers.

Astronauts are also prepared for this in their training through all kinds of procedures, he explains. “Such a leak does not have to be immediately fatal. There are tools on board to plug holes and to close compartments.”

Nevertheless, a collision with a large piece of space debris can end “very wrong”. Kuipers: “It can destroy the station, but also hit the Soyuz. Then you are completely screwed up. And we have to watch out for a cascade effect. In other words, that all that space debris will collide with each other, which leads to even more debris and collisions. . “

He refers to the Hollywood film that has won seven Oscars Gravity from 2013, in which two astronauts run into trouble from a huge cloud of space debris from a satellite blown up by a rocket. In the film, the cloud also destroys the ISS. “There are some artistic liberties in that film and not all physically correct, but theoretically this can happen”, says Kuipers.

To keep that chance as small as possible, Kuipers, like NASA and the European space agency ESA, is arguing for better agreements and cleaning up as much waste as possible. For example, the ESA is currently investing in a species ‘space tow truck’.

The project involves a kind of inverted umbrella that, by closing it, is supposed to grab the space waste:

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