"The story of space debris" which visualizes the history of the space debris covering the earth

Space garbage such as artificial satellites and space shuttle fragments that are no longer used around the earth "Space debrisThere is a possibility of damaging the International Space Station and harming the astronauts performing extravehicular activities. We visualized how this space debris was born and how it has increased to the present "The story of space debris"is.

The story of space debris | The Royal Institution: Science Lives Here
http://rigb.org/christmas-lectures/how-to-survive-in-space/a-place-called-space/7-space-debris-visualisation


Those that visualize the history of space debris can be seen at the click of "Click here to launch the visualization".


Together with the word "The story of space debris", the earth and the earth floating in the dark universe were displayed.


While the sun is lit, the earth is spinning. Click "Start" to see the history of space debris.


October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union was the world's first artificial satelliteSputnik 1Launched,Space development competitionStarted. From here the history of space debris also begins. There are arrows at the left and right edges of the screen, and you can advance and return history by pushing this arrow, so press the arrow at the bottom right to proceed.


Sputnik 1 go round the earth. After 22 days from launch, the battery runs out, but continued orbiting even after that, it disappeared by lowering the altitude on January 4, 1958 and then entering the atmosphere after 92 days. If Sputnik 1 did not lower the altitude, it is said that 100 years thereafter would have been orbiting.


Sputnik 1 was a sphere with a diameter of 58.5 cm and was transmitting radio frequency pulses. The rocket used for shooting was equipped with a reflector, he said that he was able to confirm its appearance from the earth as well.


A part of the rocket used to launch Sputnik 1 is thought to be the first space debris in history to circle around the Earth's satellite orbit and interfere with the space mission.


Then, in 1958. Following the Soviet Union, in 1958, the United States was a satelliteExplorer 1Will be launched.


One of the objectives of the explorer's launch is the International Earth Observation, and for the cosmic ray measurementGeiger-Muller counterWas also installed. Therefore, the radiation band made up of protons and electronsVan Allen beltSuccessfully to discover. In addition to doing a great scientific contribution, we also increased space debris floating in space.


And in 1961 he was a soldier of the Soviet UnionYuri GagarinIt is the first time in mankind to space. After doing many missions, as a result, I left over 200 space debris on orbit.


And in 1970, mankind got off to the moon for the first time. Around this time the number of space debris increased considerably, so that the Earth is covered tightly.


By 1980, nearly 5000 space debris will float on the Earth's orbit. This is because the aircraft of the rocket has been left on orbit.


In the 1990s, human beings must fly to outer space more than ever before. Astronauts on the orbit of the earthMir Space StationIt will be able to stay for a long time and you will be able to see the damage caused by collision of space debris directly.


Human beings have done hundreds of missions in the universe,Navigation satellite· Communication satellites · meteorological satellites were blown away, and about 9000 space debris floated around the earth was the event of the 2000s.


In addition, China conducted a missile test in 2007, and 2000 space debris newly occurred.


In 2009Cosmos 2251WhenIridium 33By colliding, about 2,000 more space debris was born.


Although the history of space debris has been around for nearly 60 years, it is clear that many of space debris, which currently has nearly 20,000, have been created in recent years. The size of each space debris ranges from the apple size to the size of the bus as much as possible.