Question: Have the astronauts staying in the ISS, 4 Americans, 2 Russians and a German, come close to disaster?

Answer: "It's difficult to say in retrospect. But what we know is that now, according to our sources, the risk of collision would be five times higher in the weeks or even months to come. debris evolve in the same orbit as the Station, around 400 km altitude, at more than 8 km per second (like all waste polluting low orbit, Editor's note) ... it's seven to eight times faster than a rifle bullet! So to avoid them, you have to predict them a long time in advance: you can then make the ISS go up or down a little.

But for that, you need a precise mapping of the objects in question, which is not the case because it is quite fresh.

We're a little blind.

It's far too early to decide whether or not to readjust the Station's orbit - it could be even worse.

American radars are doing the math to find out ".

Q: In the meantime, what can astronauts do?

Are they afraid?

"Yesterday (Monday), the only thing to do was cross your fingers and put them away in their respective capsules. Some objects passed within 1 km! Once the Station had made a around the Earth and the cloud had passed, they were able to regain it.For reasons of tilt differences with respect to the Earth, the ISS should not pass through the same area as the debris immediately.

But obviously the astronauts were afraid!

They are in a box where the slightest hole is potentially explosive.

And they do not control: it is as if you were told that in your home there is a potential risk of break-in or fire, what can you do? "

Q: Is debris a growing threat?

How to protect yourself from it?

"The great danger of debris is the domino effect. The more debris you have, the more possibilities you have to impact satellites, and therefore to explode others and so on. At this speed, any impact can cause a surface to explode.

The ISS was built in the 1990s, there were far fewer at the time.

However, although the risk of collision has increased, the original structure of the ship has not changed.

AFP International Space Station

The capsules attached to the ISS are much better protected by several small layers of aluminum, which mitigates the impact.

These capsules are also smaller than the ISS (as large as a football field), the risk of collision is lower.

In the event of an impact with the ISS, this is not necessarily the disaster scenario of the film + Gravity +.

The station is equipped with pressure sensors: if a collision causes a hole in one place, one of the station's modules can be isolated by closing the airlocks.

And then fix the leaks, like the Russians had done on the Mir station.

Afterwards, if the debris hits a tank, it is serious and it can explode.

But that would really be the height of bad luck!

It should be remembered that for an astronaut, the main risk is takeoff and landing.

Once in orbit, the risk factor is reduced.

However, we must not add risk to risk.

By attacking the problem from the design stage of satellites, and eliminating existing dangers.

This is what ESA does, whose new satellites have a deorbitation system, and which has a space cleaning program, + CleanSpace +, a sort of garbage satellite.

Unfortunately, there is no regulation at the international level.

© 2021 AFP