ISS Dodges Space Junk

Last Wednesday, NASA fired the engine of the European-built cargo ship Jules Verne, which was docked at ISS, to move ISS away from a possible collision with a piece of space junk. The rocket burn required lasted over five minutes, and was the first such maneuver in nearly five years.

The space junk being dodged in this instance was a piece of an old Russian surveillance satellite, but Russia is by no means the only culprit in junking up low Earth orbit. Other countries, including the U. S., bear responsibility, as do private space efforts.

Studies by NASA and others have argued junk could destroy the usefulness of low Earth orbit in the years ahead, as well as make manned spaceflight even more dangerous than it already is. That situation has led to an interesting idea for a business-- the space junk collector. Such a company would develop vehicles and techniques to capture old satellites and other pieces of useless hardware, and literally take it out of circulation. The company could not only charge for the service. but could also reclaim the precious metals used in high tech electronics, for example.

Exactly who would pay for the service, unfortunately, is not clear. Ownership of the particular pieces of junk could also pose thorny legal problens; a clear definition of "abandoned spacecraft" would need to be accepted by all parties. No doubt the biggest problem with such a service, however, is that if the company could capture and deorbit old, inactive satellites, it could presumably do the same to active ones. Still, at some point, the problem of space junk will need to be solved in some way.