Source: wikipedia

09-18-2008 17:38

Space debris or orbital debris, also called space junk and space waste, are the objects in orbit around Earth created by humans, that no longer serve any useful purpose. They consist of everything from entire spent rocket stages and defunct satellites to explosion fragments, paint flakes, dust, and slag from solid rocket motors, coolant released by RORSAT nuclear powered satellites, deliberate insertion of small needles, and other small particles. Clouds of very small particles may cause erosive damage, like sandblasting.

Space debris has become a growing concern in recent years, since collisions at orbital velocities can be highly damaging to functioning satellites and can also produce even more space debris in the process, called Kessler Syndrome. Some spacecraft, like the International Space Station, are now armored to mitigate damage with this hazard.Astronauts on EVAs are also vulnerable.

 

Editor:Liu Fang