The United States accused the Russian government of being reckless and irresponsible because the latter used a ground-based missile to hit a satellite in space, relatively close to the International Space Station where the astronauts are located.
This detonation generated more than 1,500 pieces of trackable orbital debris, along with thousands of others that the United States said threaten the interests of all nations, but this isn't the first time such a problem has surfaced.
space war
In December 2019, the Chinese administration announced its dissatisfaction with the US administration's decision to establish the "Space Force", a military body affiliated with the army, indicating that this is a serious violation of the international consensus on the peaceful use of outer space, but the US administration took this action under the pretext of Protecting its interests in outer space, especially after information that the Russian and Chinese administrations have acquired military tools that can reach American satellites.
China already used a ground-based missile in 2007 to destroy its own decommissioned satellite, and this test succeeded.
On the other hand, in 2019 India had succeeded in launching a missile from the northeast of the country to travel about 280 kilometers into space to meet the path of an Indian satellite called “Microsat R” to break it into small pieces.
The average weight of the satellite - such as the one destroyed by India, China or Russia - is about a ton, and when it crashes, it spreads thousands of pieces in space, and no matter how small these pieces are, they revolve around the Earth at a speed of about 7 kilometers per second, which is a tremendous speed that makes crumbs The little one is very dangerous.
For example, a piece of metal a little larger than one centimeter in diameter can pierce a lead plate by 7 to 8 centimeters.
When a satellite crashes, it spreads thousands of pieces into space that orbit the Earth at a speed of 7 km/sec (Pixabay)
hazardous waste
But the matter is not limited to anti-satellite missiles only, as the number of satellites operating in space is about 2500 only.
The rest, about 20,000 pieces, can be called "space waste", which is very dangerous if it collides with working satellites.
For example, the American satellite "Iridium 33" was completely destroyed in 2009 when it collided with a non-working Russian satellite at an altitude of about 500 km above the Siberian plains, and this collision released debris of about a ton and a half.
The risks go beyond what happens in space to reach what happens on Earth. According to a study conducted by researchers from the Aerospace Corporation, more than 40 space objects with a mass of one ton fall to Earth annually.
The most famous example in this range is the fall of the remnants of the Chinese "Long March 5B" missile in the Indian Ocean last May, which caused a huge global uproar.
But this is not the first time for China. In May 2020, parts of one of the Chinese missiles (of the same class) penetrated the Earth’s atmosphere, and the bulk of them fell into the Atlantic Ocean, but some debris fell in inhabited villages in the country of Ivory Coast, West Africa, But no injuries were reported.
As for the most dangerous event in this range, it was in 1978 when the United States of America space station “Skylab” fell to Earth, where the main parts of the vehicle burned in the atmosphere, but other parts remained that fell in the Indian Ocean and western Australia, and no cases were recorded. death.
A new kind of risk
In general, any space waste falling to Earth burns in the atmosphere, unless its mass exceeds several tons, here some of its remnants can fall to Earth after burning, but because the area of water on Earth is greater than two-thirds of its area, the greatest possibility is to fall into the water.
The greatest danger remains in space. Human life on Earth is currently dependent on communication systems and satellites, and if one of them stops suddenly because of a space shot coming from here or there, this may cause major problems.
According to the European Space Agency, the orbit around the Earth contains more than 128 million pieces of space garbage with a diameter of less than one centimeter, and about 90,000 pieces with a diameter of 1-10 centimeters, and this number is increasing day by day, and threatens many satellites.