# Astronomy - Space Junk



## Em in Ohio (May 28, 2020)

*SPACE JUNK :  https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/news/orbital_debris.html 
"More than 500,000 pieces of debris, or “space junk,” are tracked as they orbit the Earth."
(And this doesn't count all the artificial satellites that are functional!)*

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*     "*More than 500,000 pieces of debris, or “space junk,” are tracked as they orbit the Earth. They all travel at speeds up to 17,500 mph, fast enough for a relatively small piece of orbital debris to damage a satellite or a spacecraft.. Orbital debris is any man-made object in orbit about the Earth which no longer serves a useful function. Such debris includes nonfunctional spacecraft, abandoned launch vehicle stages, mission-related debris and fragmentation debris.
     "There are more than 20,000 pieces of debris larger than a softball orbiting the Earth. They travel at speeds up to 17,500 mph, fast enough for a relatively small piece of orbital debris to damage a satellite or a spacecraft. There are 500,000 pieces of debris the size of a marble or larger. There are many millions of pieces of debris that are so small they can’t be tracked. Even tiny paint flecks can damage a spacecraft when traveling at these velocities. In fact a number of space shuttle windows have been replaced because of damage caused by material that was analyzed and shown to be paint flecks."

“The greatest risk to space missions comes from non-trackable debris,” said Nicholas Johnson, NASA chief scientist for orbital debris."


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## Gaer (May 28, 2020)

So, THAT'S where my luggage disappeared !


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## fmdog44 (May 29, 2020)

It is heart warming to know man pollutes not only the Earth surfaces and the surrounding atmosphere but the outer space harboring it.


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## Aunt Marg (May 29, 2020)

fmdog44 said:


> It is heart warming to know man pollutes not only the Earth surfaces and the surrounding atmosphere but the outer space harboring it.


Sickening it is.


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## MarciKS (May 29, 2020)

Don't laugh cuz I don't know anything about space stuff but, is that "junk" actual trash and if so, where did it come from...how did it get there?


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## Em in Ohio (May 29, 2020)

MarciKS said:


> Don't laugh cuz I don't know anything about space stuff but, is that "junk" actual trash and if so, where did it come from...how did it get there?


It is the old and now useless remnants of human-made things sent into space - old rocket parts, old satellites, etc. - The stuff that is obsolete, not in use, or broken into bits.  In other words, garbage!


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## MarciKS (May 29, 2020)

that's sad


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