GS Paper 3
Syllabus: Science and Technology: Space Awareness
Source: DTE, Business Standard
Context: Scientists have called for a legally binding treaty to ensure Earth’s orbit isn’t irreparably harmed by the future expansion of the global space industry.
About Space debris:
- Space debris includes non-functional spacecraft, abandoned launch vehicle stages, mission-related debris, and fragmentation debris.
- Space debris can also be generated when two satellites collide, releasing thousands of new pieces.
- Anti-satellite tests also result in debris. In 2019, India tested an anti-satellite missile targeting a satellite in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
- Space debris could trigger a chain reaction, where too many objects collide with each other and create new space junk in the process (known as Kessler Syndrome)
- Space debris encompasses both natural (meteoroid) and artificial (man-made) particles.
Present scenario to protect Earth’s orbit:
- Companies are not incentivized to clean up orbits or to include de-orbiting functions in satellites.
- De-orbiting means bringing dead satellites back to Earth.
- There is no international treaty that seeks to minimize orbital debris. But the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space has laid out guidelines to mitigate space debris.
- Operators are expected to clear the orbit within 25 years after the satellite’s mission ends. Still, most states have neglected to implement the necessary local space regulations, according to the letter.
Way forward:
- Any agreement should include measures to implement producer and user responsibility for satellites and debris, from the time they launch onward.
- Minimizing the pollution of the lower Earth orbit will allow continued space exploration, satellite continuity, and the growth of life-changing space technology.
Related News:
ISRO brings down decommissioned weather satellite
Source: Indian Express
Context: For the first time the Indian Space Research Organisation brought down a satellite in a controlled manner after its end of life.
- The weather satellite Megha Tropiques-1, which was developed as a joint mission by Indian and French space agencies, entered the atmosphere after the final two maneuvers and burnt up over the Pacific Ocean.
How was the satellite brought down?
- The Megha Tropiques satellite was launched aboard a PSLV by the space agency in 2011.
- Although the planned mission life of the satellite was only three years, it continued providing data on the water cycle and energy exchanges in the tropics for nearly a decade.
- As some fuel was left – it was maneuvered and brought back to earth.
Usually, satellites are left in their orbit and because of the gravitational pull of the earth, they come down to the atmosphere over years and years. When the satellites re-enter the atmosphere, the friction causes them to heat up to extremely high temperatures of thousands of degrees Celsius. Without a heat shield, 99% of a satellite gets burnt up whether in a controlled re-entry or an uncontrolled one.
Initiatives taken by ISRO for space debris mitigation
- Project NETRA – to provide information on the status of debris.
- ISRO System for Safe and Sustainable Space Operations Management (IS4OM) for tracking and monitoring space objects.
Insta Links:
Mains Link: UPSC 2019
What is India’s plan to have its own space station and how will it benefit our space program?
Prelims Link: UPSC 2022
Which one of the following statements best reflects the idea behind the “Fractional Orbital Bombardment System” often talked about in media?
(a) A hypersonic missile is launched into space to counter the asteroid approaching the Earth and explode it in space.
(b) A spacecraft lands on another planet, after making several orbital motions.
(c) A missile is put into a stable orbit around the Earth and deorbits over a target on the Earth.
(d) A spacecraft moves along a comet at the same speed and places a probe on its surface.
Answer (c)
