Group warns UN space debris could make the use of space difficult

New York - An international group has briefly warned the United Nations that orbital space debris could make space missions and the general use of space quite difficult in the future and the geopolitical situation could make the solution even harder.

In April 2005, the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office warned of the growing problem of space debris and stated that chance of collisions with debris would increase substantially if the issue is not resolved. It is estimated that there are trillions of debris pieces smaller than 1 centimeter in diameter and about 4 million pounds of space junk. However, the United States Air Force is only tracking 13,400 objects in space. “As the number of objects in Earth orbit increases, the likelihood of accidental collisions will also increase. Currently, hundreds of close approaches (i.e., passes within less than 1 kilometer) between cataloged objects occur on a daily basis. If future spacecraft and rocket bodies are not removed from LEO within a moderate amount of time after the end of a mission, e.g., within 25 years, the rate of accidental collisions will increase markedly later in his century.” On Tuesday, the Secure World Foundation, a non-profit organization which works in the field of astronomy and space sustainability, addressed the UN’s Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and warned them of the dangerous hazard of orbital debris and stressed global co-operation to address this issue, according to United Press International. However, experts believe the solutions would be difficult to come up with because of the tensions, animosity and relations between many nations, reports Space. “In order to keep the ability to work in space, we need to reduce as much as possible the amount of debris that we put in orbit,” said Executive Director of the group, Ray Williamson. “The reason for that is that as we go to much higher-than-Earth altitudes, the debris tends to stay in space for many years. And if you go to 1,000 km [600 miles], when you get to those altitudes, debris in space stays for centuries.” On Wednesday, Australian universities and the federal government increased funding for a space debris tracking project, according to ABC Online. The project is estimated to cost $14 million and the scientists are hoping to be working with the U.S. and Europe. “What we want to do is to make sure that we have a better handle on earth observation, on satellite communication and position navigation and also timing,” said Innovation Minister Kim Carr.