The Fight Against Space Debris: US Imposes Fine for Improper Satellite Disposal

AFPillustration of space debris around Earth

NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 22:41

For the first time, the US has imposed a fine for the incorrect disposal of a satellite. Communications watchdog FCC calls it an important step in the fight against space debris.

Satellite broadcaster Dish must pay $150,000 because something went wrong with the EchoStar-7 launched in 2002. When that satellite was retired last year, the company discovered that there wasn’t enough fuel left to get it to a higher, safer orbit: instead of the 190 miles it was supposed to reach, it reached only 78 miles.

Half a million objects

If space debris is not properly disposed of, it can pose a problem for other satellites and spacecraft. Because discarded items orbit the Earth at high speed, even a small piece of space junk can cause major damage.

There are now an estimated half a million objects of one centimeter or larger. 25,000 of them that are larger than 10 centimeters are closely tracked from Earth. The flying debris includes debris from crashed satellites, dropped rocket stages or equipment lost by astronauts.

Much of the space debris eventually crashes to Earth. According to NASA, space debris has entered our atmosphere every day for the past fifty years. The chance of damage is small: much of it burns before reaching the surface and the rest often falls in sparsely populated areas such as the Siberian tundra or oceans.

2023-10-02 20:41:00
#issues #fine #space #debris