Once upon a time, gazing at the night sky was an escape from manmade messiness on Earth.
Not anymore.
Nearly 70 years after the launch of Sputnik, there are so many machines flying through space, astronomers worry their light pollution will soon make it impossible to study other galaxies with terrestrial telescopes.
Then there is the space junk — nearly 30,000 objects bigger than a softball hurtling a few hundred miles above Earth, ten times faster than a bullet.
And after NOAA used high-flying aircraft to take first-in-a-generation samples of the stratosphere, new science shows that the for-profit space race is changing the sky in measurable ways and with potentially harmful consequences for the ozone layer and Earth’s climate.
“We can see the fingerprint of human space traffic on stratospheric aerosol,” said Troy Thornberry, a research physicist at NOAA’s Chemical Sciences Laboratory. “Adding a lot of material to the stratosphere that was never there before is something that we’re considering, as well as the sheer mass of material that we put into space.”
The study found that 10% of the particles in the upper atmosphere now contain bits of metal from rockets or satellites falling out of orbit and burning up. As humanity becomes increasingly dependent on information beamed down from above, the report predicts manmade debris will make up 50% of stratospheric aerosols in coming decades, matching the amount created naturally by the galaxy.
While there is uncertainty over how this will affect the ozone layer — and a complicated climate system already in crisis — the commercial shift from solid rocket boosters on NASA’s Space Shuttles to the kerosene that fuels SpaceX rockets has added tons of new fossil fuel emissions with every launch, while aging satellites create clouds of debris as they deorbit.
“We’re talking about constellations of thousands of satellites that each weigh a ton or so, and when they come down they’re acting like meteoroids,” Thornberry told CNN.
According to the tracking site Orbiting Now, there are more than 8,300 satellites currently overhead, and predictions of how many will soon join them vary wildly.
More than 300 commercial and government entities have announced plans to launch a staggering 478,000 satellites by 2030, but that number is likely inflated by hype. The US Government Accountability Office predicted 58,000 satellites will launch in the next six years. Other analysts recently estimated the number likely to make it to orbit is closer to 20,000.
But even the lowest estimates would have been inconceivable in the giddy aftermath of Neil Armstrong’s one small step. 1972’s “Blue Marble” photo from Apollo 17 may have inspired Earth Day, but few considered the orbital garbage created to take it until 1979, when NASA scientist Donald Kessler published a paper titled “Collision Frequency of Artificial Satellites: The Creation of a Debris Belt.”
Ever since, “Kessler Syndrome” — depicted with appropriate suspense in the 2013 film “Gravity” — has been shorthand for the industry’s worry that too much space traffic will eventually create a vicious cycle of more debris leading to even more collisions until launches become impossible.
In low-earth orbit, objects can collide at around 23,000 miles an hour, enough for even the tiniest debris to crack the windows on the International Space Station. All told, it is estimated that there are 100 million pieces of manmade debris the size of a pencil tip whizzing in orbit — a major risk of doing business in space.
“Ten years ago, people thought that our founder was crazy for even talking about space debris,” Ron Lopez told CNN while strolling past the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. “Now you can’t go to a space conference without a panel or a series of talks on space sustainability and the debris issue.”
Lopez is president of the US branch of Astroscale, a Japanese company competing for market share in the emerging field of orbital debris removal.
“In the Gold Rush, it was the folks that made the pickaxes and the shovels that often did better than the prospectors,” he said. “And in a sense, that’s exactly what we’re bringing to the market.”
A depiction of Astroscale’s “On Closer Inspection” mission, which aerospace company Rocket Lab launched on February 18. – Rocket Lab
Lopez admits that they are a long way from flying garbage trucks, orbiting recycling centers and a “circular economy in space,” but in 2022, Astroscale used a satellite with a strong magnet to catch a moving target launched in the same 3-year mission.
“It was the first commercially funded spacecraft to demonstrate a lot of the technologies that will be required to do docking and rendezvous with other satellites,” he said. “It could be that we move them, eventually refuel them, or in some cases, deorbit them to address the debris problem.”
A second Astroscale mission, launched from New Zealand by aerospace company Rocket Lab on February 18, is going to take a closer look at space junk. The satellite, named ADRAS-J, will observe the motions of a rocket stage that was left in low-Earth orbit in 2009. Astroscale’s mission will use cameras and sensors to study the rocket debris and figure out how to get it out of orbit.
But with a pollution crisis now painfully evident on land, at sea and now in space, one of the most symbolic launches since Sputnik is scheduled for this summer, when scientists from Japan and NASA launch the world’s first biodegradable satellite, made mostly of wood.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
