Hi guys,
Does anyone of you aware of the space waste?
I don’t even know/care about its existence until I read about them in the internet.
According to the articles, we are surrounded with waste not only here on earth but also in our space region. We can see some plastics or food packages on the beach, some waste were buried underground and not to mention also some were sink under the ocean. In addition, if you are lucky, you will see some burning objects dropping from the sky in near future. These are left over objects that orbit our planet.
Space junk is a growing problem. Among the main contribution to this are the unused satellites. Over 6000 satellites have been launched into space since 1958, but only around 800 are currently in operation. This means that we have a lot of unwanted objects orbiting our earth that could be dangerous for future space explorations. Some of the examples are discarded bolts and nuts, astronaut gloves, cameras.
Space junk even presents some threat to those of us with our feet firmly on the ground, albeit a small one. Most space junk that re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere burns up before it reaches the ground. One exception was Skylab, an early US space station that was launched in 1973 and fell to Earth six years later. Nobody was hurt, but dangerous debris rained over a large expanse of the Australian outback. In 1996, meanwhile, wreckage from a Russian spy satellite re-entering over the Pacific Ocean passed dangerously close to an airliner carrying 270 passengers.
To make those threats even worse, do you know that people even think of sending nuclear waste into space as an option? Why??? Well, they say for these three good reasons; first, it is safe, second, space disposal is better than the alternative, underground burial, and third, it may finally open the door to widespread utilization of space.
But, personally I don’t think that’s a good option to be adopted. The possibility of an accident during launch and the potential for radioactive waste to be scattered by such an accident does not sound good to me. In addition, space disposal is impractical because of the number of launches that would be required. Well, we have to pay for this right?
What do you guys think?
~Muharniza~
Articles:
http://environment.uk.msn.com/climate-change/article.aspx?cp-documentid=12617262
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/437/1
Did you know, that in the US Treaties and Principles on Outer Space, they did not specifically - or mention anything even remotely close - to 'cleaning up your mess in space when you're done'? The closest they got to mentioning anything about space junk is that the counties that launched the satellites/vehicles/etc. are only about the liabilities of the launching states towards the damage done by the space object should any accident happens (Part C: Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects). I think that the UN should definitely look into this as the number of space objects left idle in space are increasing exponentially with time and they should draw out more strict treaties to handle this kind of situation.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I don't think that it is a good idea to send nuclear waste to space as it is very unpredictable and uncontrollable. In space, objects moves faster and ONE bump from anything will have the potential to cause leakage, resulting in a spill in space. This, in turn will violate the treaty and furthermore, the launching state will be absolute liable for the damage.
The idea of transferring waste to outer space is like moving an issue from one point to the other and we are not solving it. The waste is still there and the worst still can happen during the transporting or future condition of the waste. In 1986, rocket launcher exploded on earth hemisphere, killed all seven astronauts. What happens if it was carrying hazardous waste is a question to ponder.
ReplyDeleteIn referring to the above scenario, the effort that we must do is to focus on waste reduction. New technology should not be allowed to be introduced and produced until the resources or product can be handled from cradle to grave. Money shall be allocated in reduce, reuse or recycle of current available waste. The energy must be focused on making the earth safe for human to live.
I agree with mandude point of moving waste to outer space issue. It is a very dangerous to move waste especially it is type of waste that may harm to human being if it is accidentally leak to our environment during its transportation.
ReplyDeleteLike what Nini said, it is not a good idea and uncontrollable. Besides, it is very costly to export waste to the space if it is weigh by expense per pound. Instead of thinking to dump the waste to the space,it is better to solve our waste issues by reducing our waste generations.
I think sending nuclear wastes into space is a cool idea! ;-)
ReplyDeleteIt is true that this mission is expensive and it posses unknown effects. But other than the cost, it seems that this option is better than burying nuclear wastes under the ground.
According to the article (http://www.thespacereview.com/article/437/1), transporting the wastes using laser launching is safer compare to rockets. Even though there might be failure occurred during the launching, the capsule will land on known recovery zone.
Even if there is possibility for leakage to happen, it does not have huge-immediate impacts on human on earth. The leaking-nuclear waste probably just lingers in space for thousand of years.
But after all, we should reduce and avoid if possible from using nuclear energy in future. The amount of nuclear wastes currently is enormous and continue to grow. We need a solution to overcome this problem immediately.