New plans to monitor Space Debris

(image found on Spiegal Online International)
With thousands of pieces of assorted Space Debris circling the earth every day, the recent collision of two satellites was an eye opener for some people, especially in Europe. When the recent collision of a US Iridium commercial satellite with an old Soviet military satellite happened the ESA (European Space Agency) had no clue of the incident. They "had to ask the United States for information in order to gauge the danger the space debris presented to its own satellites. The Space Surveillance Network is an American program that constantly monitors more than 17,000 objects in Earth's orbit -- and the up-to-date information it provided also helped the Europeans get out of an awkward situation."

The Europeans are now looking into creating a program like the Americans have for monitoring assorted space debris so that they don't need to ask the neighbors for what kind of threats exists above their friendly skys. "We still need to do a lot more about monitoring," says Jean-François Kaufeler, the head of the ESA department responsible for space debris.

"Observers point out that there is currently no global air traffic control system that tracks the position of all satellites. NASA veteran turned space consultant James Oberg wrote, "At physical contact at orbital speeds, a hypersonic shock wave bursts outwards through the structures. It literally shreds the material into confetti and detonates any fuels." Oberg is hopeful that the Obama administration would take "forceful, visible, and long-overdue" measures to address the problem of space debris."

I am very surprised that all of the major nations don't have a joint monitoring program currently implemented so that if any unexpected suprised do decided to drop in literally they can be a bit more prepared for the aftermath. With over 30,000 pieces of debris floating above the earth, not to mention the thousands of space goodies that fly by the earth every year, even a small piece coming down could cause some huge problems with where ever it hits.

Hopefully, this recent incident will help to unveil a new program for monitoring our friendly sky's just in case someone decides to pop down for a visit. This recent incident is estimated to have created over 10,000 pieces of debris from the impact. Granted a majority of it because of its size will burn up on re-entry into the earths atmosphere, but what about the rest that doesn't burn up so quickly? Where will that end up?

Eyes on the Sky: Europe Plans to Monitor Space Junk (spiegal)
Mystery Fireball Streaks Across Texas Sky (ABC News)
Broken bits of satellites could post 10,000 year treat (FierceCIO)