Space debris:

GS Paper 3:

Topics Covered: Awareness in space.

Context:

Space Debris from the re-entry of the Chang Zheng 3B serial Y86 — China’s orbital launch vehicle, us suspected to have fallen at various places in Gujarat.

What is Chang Zheng 3B serial Y86, from where the debris is suspected to have fallen?

Chang Zheng 3B, commonly known as CZ 3B, is China’s orbital launch vehicle, similar to India’s GSLV or PSLV.

• The third stage, which releases the satellite at the required orbit following which it remains in sub-orbital flight, remains outside the purview of being controlled by human intervention and ultimately re-enters earth.
• It is this third stage of the Long March 3B Y 86 rocket launch that is now suspected to have re-entered earth, leading to debris falling in Gujarat.

What is space debris?

Space debris can include natural space debris such as meteoroids, or man-made ones which can include defunct spacecrafts and satellites, stages of rockets which have launched payloads, dead satellites, satellite explosions and collisions.

Amount of space debris in space:

• The real amount of space debris is said to be between 500,000 and one million pieces as current sensor technology cannot detect smaller objects.
• They all travel at speeds of up to 17,500 mph (28,162 kmph) fast enough for a relatively small piece of orbital debris to damage a satellite or a spacecraft.

Technologies that can tackle the problem in future are:

1. Nasa’s Space Debris Sensor orbits the Earth on the International Space Station. REMOVEdebris, satellite contain two cubesats that will release simulated space debris so that it can then demonstrate several ways of retrieving them.
2. Deorbit mission: There are two emerging technologies being developed under what’s known as the e.Deorbit mission to grasp the wayward space junk, or to catch it.
3. Other technologies include moving objects with a powerful laser beam. It is important to start doing that soon, current scientific estimates predict that without active debris removal, certain orbits will become unusable over the coming decades.

Insta Curious:

Did you know that anti-satellite weapons are high-tech missiles possessed by few nations?  Which countries have these weapons?

Did you know about Netra?

Netra:

To safeguard its space assets from space debris, Isro had set up a dedicated Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Control Centre named “Netra” in Bengaluru last December.

• Netra’s key objective is to monitor, track and protect the national space assets and function as a hub of all SSA activities.
• Only the US, Russia and Europe have similar facilities in place to track space objects and share collision warnings.

InstaLinks:

Prelims Link:

1. Space Debris.
2. Space junk.
3. Netra.
4. India’s A – SAT missile.
5. Deorbit mission.

Mains Link:

Discuss the concerns associated with Space Debris.

Q.6) Which of the following countries have setup facilities in place to track space objects and share collision warnings?

1. INDIA.
2. RUSSIA.
3. JAPAN.
4. BOTH A AND B. 

Sources: Indian Express.