Earth Orbiting debris starting to impede Space Exploration programs

Japan’s H-2A rocket that blasted off on May 18 sent a Japanese satellite, Shizuku, and a South Korean satellite, Arirang-3, into orbit but it has also left behind space junk, the accumulation of which is starting to create big problems above Earth's atmosphere.

The amount of space debris has steadily increased since its start on Oct. 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to enter Earth orbit.

Now that India and China are testing space systems, the "garbage problem" could rise at an explosive rate.

Countries are now trying to figure out ways to take care of the problem, but progress has been slow.

"We know that it will eventually impede the development of space, but if we just leave space debris out there anyway, then some day we won't be able to go into space anymore and our development there will hit a brick wall," said Seishiro Kibe, director of the Innovative Technology Research Center of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

An estimated 22,000 pieces of debris with a diameter of 10 centimeters or more are floating around in space. Information, such as orbital path, size and origin, is known for about 16,000 of them.

There are also about 1,000 satellites in operation. The continued accumulation of space debris could interfere with the satellites' orbital paths, leaving them nowhere to operate.

Debris has always been a part of space development and will continue to be so but nations participating in space programs need to take responsibility for the disposal of there waste products, just as on Earth.

Read more of this article here: Space debris - AJW by The Asahi Shimbun

ESA SSA Programme: Looking out for Space Hazards

Under the SSA Programme, Europe preparing is the development of a capability to watch for objects and natural phenomena that can be hazardous to satellites in orbit or facilities - such as power grids - on the ground.

To achieve this, the SSA Programme is focusing on three main areas:

* SST: Space Surveillance and Tracking of objects in Earth orbit
Watching and warning for active and inactive satellites, discarded launch stages and fragmentation debris that orbit Earth.

* SWE: Space Weather
Monitoring conditions at the Sun, in the solar wind, and in Earth's magnetosphere, ionosphere and thermosphere that can affect spaceborne and ground-based infrastructure or endanger human life or health.

* NEOs: Near-Earth Objects
Detecting natural objects that can potentially impact Earth and cause damage.

All participating Member States contribute to the Programme's core element (which includes the SSA architecture development, governance, data policy, security and the Space Surveillance and Tracking Segment), while the space weather element including NEO activities, the radar element (prototype system development) and the pilot data centres element are optional.

Finland has also opted to join in the discretionary space weather element.

ESA SSA: Space hazards: Luxembourg and Finland

ESA's Optical Ground Station (OGS)is located at the Observatorio del Teide on Tenerife, and is situated at an altitude of 2393 metres.

Luxembourg and Finland are the two latest participants in ESA's new Space Situational Awareness programme, bringing the total number of subscribing Member States to 13.

ESA received formal notification from both the Luxembourg and Finland national delegations that they will subscribe to the Space Situational Awareness Preparatory Programme (SSA-PP). Subsequently, at the 5th SSA Programme Board meeting held 28 May, their participation was unanimously agreed.

The countries' decision to take part in SSA-PP is a strong boost to the Programme and will provide a formal framework through which their existing national assets can be federated into the overall SSA system.