The New York Times reports that a recent Chinese test of a space weapons system has left several hundred pieces of shrapnel in orbit. Unfortunately, the Chinese test happened at 530 miles above the earth’s surface. It’s likely that many of these pieces will never fall to earth.
This isn’t the worst accident in terms of space junk. According to Space.com, a US rocket exploded in orbit in 1996, spreading over 300,000 objects in the same orbit as the Hubble Space Telescope. Sections of the International Space Station (ISS) are armored to protect the station against very small orbiting objects.
But China’s recent test was irresponsible and may have long-lasting effects. It was the country’s first test of a space weapons system, which by itself is alarming. The explosion was a significant addition to to the field of orbiting debris that can disable current satellites and prevent the launch of new satellites. That’s a serious threat to the value chain of any company that depends on this data.
It’s unlikely that that some of these pieces will strike commercial communications satellites. It’s becoming more likely that a satellite will be damaged or destroyed as it launches through the debris field in the lower orbits, on its way to its permanent place in the sky. That includes weather satellites, GPS satellites, and other systems.
A 20-year old paint chip smaller than a punctuation mark in this blog almost blew out a window during an early Space Shuttle flight. The United States can track larger pieces of space junk, so that the Space Shuttle and ISS can avoid the objects before they strike, but the smaller objects are harder to track and almost as dangerous.
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