Thanks to Arthur for mentioning AMSAT. There are many comments on space debris without having done any research. Most of these spacecraft are in low high drag orbits and they re-enter after a short lifetime of a few years. Higher starting orbits are required by licensing authorities to have debris mitigation plans.
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How long before everyone can start sending their own ideas of space research up? Or pictures of their kids, ashes of their deceased love ones, , maybe stuff they might need when they get there themselves? Better yet, plastic. Lots of plastic.
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Our author/reporter should explore more. These small satellites originally were inventions of amateur radio operators, most associated with the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), a nearly 50 year old radio club! See: http://www.amsat.org. 73.....
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Who cleans up the space junk?
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@Dan Barthel Asteroids, comets and meteorites
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This really needs a follow-up article on the whole topic of managing space as a resource:
Is there really a space-junk problem, or does it all eventually fall back into the atmosphere and burn up there?
Will satellites start colliding in space? And if so, will there need to be proper rules of the orbital road defined for operating a satellite? And for avoiding orbital traffic jams?
Why can’t more organizations share satellites, instead of everyone needing a satellite of their own? Why can’t satellites be more like Bird scooters, floating around at convenient locations in space, and waiting to be rented for a while at low cost?
Many other commenters here refer to the burn-up-on-reentry scenario as the ideal solution for space junk management. But is it good for the atmosphere to have large numbers of metal objects regularly plungIng into the atmosphere, and burning at such high temperatures that it ionizes the air that comes into contact with the burning objects?
Does this constitute an air pollution/climate change issue? Or is space big enough relative to human satellites that the latter are incapable of ever making any harmful changes to the atmosphere?
And finally, how much natural cosmic debris enters the earth’s atmosphere daily, and how does that amount compare to the human-contributed debris?
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and how does this affect the serious space debris problem?
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While I really like the overall idea of democratizing space, there is also the danger of thousands of these mini- and micro-satellites becoming part of the growing space debris cloud orbiting Earth. Even an object as small as a large sand corn can damage a communication satellite, or punch a hole into a space station. Maybe the Times can do a follow-up story on what if any regulations exist to ensure the tracking and controlled removal of these and regular satellites from orbit by controlled deorbiting or similar techniques. The space around Earth is a vital resource, and needs to be managed as such.
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This discussion is incomplete without a mention of the contribution these small satellites will make to the problem of space debris.
These satellites are often launched on board rockets carrying larger satellites into their operational low earth orbits ranging upto 1200 km high. The big satellite will have a debris mitigation plan as part of its mission planning, which means it either slowly deorbits and burns up due to drag, or have a decommissioning phase at the end of its mission, in which it is put into an orbit that takes it out of the way of other satellites.
Currently, there are no such norms for small sats, and they typically have no capacity to be moved into safer orbits at end of mission. Some companies voluntarily declare a debris mitigation plan.
Before a catastrophic event that drastically increases the quantity of debris in space, I hope leading agencies start requiring that all participants in the new rush to space plan to avoid polluting the vacuum.
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Fine but when they die do they become space trash? A danger to human space flight? A way to mask anti-satellite weapons?
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What happens when one of these many little things comes through your windshield of the space station?
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Eventually earth's sky will resemble the Pacific Ocean, filled with the satellite equivalent of plastic pollution. The sky will become unusable because of all the debris.
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Although many people may think covert agencies will "take over" the use of them, that is unlikely. I was surprised to learn recently that all GPS signals use a single US satellite (it may have been all cell phone signals). I may be misinformed, but for the people who have made these tiny satellites, I say well done!
@Easy Goer You probably need to have your Google / Facebook serviced... (hint: a single geosynchronous satellite could only transmit to part of the planet, leaving much of the world without GPS and fitbits)
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"Period three, satellite building class . .. "
Yes, support your local STEM program (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) with money, mentoring, guidance, and scholarships.
The ethnically diverse HS cast shown here (with two women, it seems) reminds me of my daughter's classes at MIT, with the best and the brightest from all over the world PLUS C-level executives on sabbatical and modern elders, too.
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Interesting, informative, understandable, and cleverly witty.
Kudos!
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Maybe that’s how Saturn got its rings -too many launches! Way back in 1965, a fellow MIT student started keeping an inventory of orbital debris (on punch cards!) as NASA released trajectories. In no time at all, there were too many pieces to bother with. Today, an app on my phone shows me the night sky, with larger bits of living and dead machines superimposed. And then, there are the scads of nominally secret pieces zipping around as well.
Clearly, the business opportunity is in deploying the finally well-named vacuum cleaner, yet to be invented.
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It is good to see these young people working on this project. However, there is only one young woman there - and she is in the back - we need more women working on these projects.
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I agree with the comments concerning more space junk, but I also see potential. Can we track wildlife poachers and stop it? To protect what wildlife we still have, particularly the animals of Africa, would be a great achievement!
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What a great time to be a student, to have access to such tools and adventures!
It would be nice to know if there are students/schools/organizations one could help to support these activities. While it might be inexpensive compared to the past costs, I'm sure it is still not cheap. I think it would support a broad range of interests and skill sets too.
A bit more information may have quelled some of the concerns voiced in the comments, orbiting obstacles indeed are something to be concerned about.
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Reading the article and watching the animation of the carrier payload ejecting the little satellites, I can only think of the opening sequence in a movie called Wall.E from several years ago.
Iridium series satellites were bad enough, now we have basically throw away space junk orbiting with no way for it to be removed.
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@reid
I kept waiting to read the space junk angle; surprised that wasn't covered. There is the possibility these are launched low enough that they'll fall back into the atmosphere after a period of time and burn up. Hopefully.
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what is the average useful lifetime of these satellites and at what altitude do they usually deploy?
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As a semi-retired enginerd, I love this article and wish I was back at high school (like this one). When I was growing up. all things space were but a dream or a black and white image on TV. Now kids can reach space by sending their own dreams and wishes to the stars.
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When it comes to dozens of mini-satellites, I can't help myself of thinking about a lot of additional space junk:
Especially the really tiny satellites probably can't maneuver and thus lose their intended use much faster than bigger satellites with backup systems and active navigation / propellant systems to correct their trajectory.
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@LL
I agree. And I'm sure even a small satellite can do real damage to another spacecraft in a collision.
I'm anxious for a 'space junk' retrieval service to be invented. Until we have that, I think that soon-to-be countless small orbiting satellites are dangerous as well as useful.
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This was my exact thought when I saw the headline. It’s been thought that after a certain point, as we create more and more space junk that can’t be retrieved from its orbit, we won’t be able to necessarily leave the Earth. It’s a really awesome thing for people to be learning and a part of, but it’s a worry that there will be too much eventually.
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@LL Planet Labs satellites fly at low altitude (around 400km to 500km) and so naturally fall out of the sky and burn up after 3-5 years. They don't stay in space indefinitely like those at higher altitudes, and so they don't contribute as much to the space junk problem.
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