Rubbish in space is a threat to satellites, say experts
SPACE DEBRIS that poses a threat to satellites is not being monitored closely enough, astronomers have warned.
A study suggests that more than 75 per cent of orbital debris detected cannot be matched to known objects in public satellite catalogues.
The astronomers are calling for more regular deep surveys of the debris with large telescopes to help quantify the risks posed to active satellites.
Some of these satellites are relied on for essential services, including communications, weather monitoring and navigation.
Lead author James Blake, a PhD student at the University of Warwick’s department of physics, said: “The light curves extracted from our survey images show just how varied these objects can be, both in terms of their physical nature and of their attitude or behaviour within orbit.
“Much of the faint, uncatalogued debris appears to be tumbling, showing significant brightness variation across the observation window.
“These sorts of features can tell us a lot about the perturbative forces acting on residents of the geosynchronous region, but also highlight that we need to be more careful when making assumptions about the properties of these objects.
“We need to probe the faint debris population further and obtain more data to gain a better understanding of what’s out there.”
The research forms part of DebrisWatch, an ongoing collaboration between the University of Warwick and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory ( UK).
It aims to provide a fresh take on surveys of the geosynchronous region – the earth- centred orbit – that have been conducted in the past.
This survey searched for faint debris – objects too small to be regularly monitored.
The US Strategic Command maintains the most complete public catalogue of space objects, using its global Space Surveillance Network, which is made up of over 30 ground- based radars and optical telescopes, with six satellites in orbit.
It can monitor high- altitude objects down to roughly 3ft in diameter.