Tag: orbital safety
-
Space Debris: 1.1 Million Pieces in Orbit Raising Risks
What the numbers mean Earth’s orbital environment is now crowded with debris from decades of spaceflight. Recent assessments estimate more than 1.1 million pieces larger than 1 centimeter are currently circling the planet, traveling at velocities up to about 18,000 miles per hour. Each fragment, from defunct satellites to spent rocket stages, can threaten operational…
-
Space Debris Insurance: Two Companies Team Up to Shield Satellites from Collision Risk
New Partnership for a Critical Risk in Orbit A pair of leading space insurance players have announced a strategic collaboration to offer specialized insurance coverage that protects satellites against space debris collisions. This partnership aims to fill a growing gap in risk transfer for operators who rely on satellite fleets for communications, weather monitoring, and…
-
Crash Clock: How Quickly Satellites Could Collide After a Severe Solar Storm
What the Crash Clock Reveals Researchers studying the aftermath of extreme solar activity have introduced the concept of the “Crash Clock”—a model that estimates how fast satellite collisions could cascade once a severe solar storm disrupts maneuvering and deconfliction in Earth’s orbit. The study warns that with tens of thousands of objects racing through low…
-
Earth’s Orbit at Risk: The Growing Space Health Crisis and What It Means for Our Future
Introduction: A Crisis in Earth’s Orbit Space is increasingly crowded as Earth’s orbit fills with debris. Nearly 30,000 tracked pieces are currently orbiting our planet, and that count excludes hundreds of thousands of smaller fragments too tiny to monitor. While “space junk” might sound like science fiction, it is a concrete and escalating risk to…
-
Why Dead Satellites Are a Growing Space Junk Threat
Why scientists are worried about dead satellites becoming space junk The sighting of an unusual sky event over Calgary has brought public attention to a problem that scientists have been tracking for years: dead satellites and other discarded pieces of hardware piling up in Earth’s orbit. As more launches occur and older equipment remains active…