Space junk is a growing problem – and it’s only going to get worse as more and more space firms and nations launch satellites, spacecraft, probes, and spaceflights for space tourism. While much of what we send to orbit ends up coming back into our planet’s atmosphere to turn to ash, much of it remains – until we find a solution to do something about it.
Things could go so bad that University of Utah professor Jake Abbott predicts that our planet could soon start looking similar to Saturn. “Earth is on course to have its own rings,” he told The Salt Lake Tribune. “They’ll just be made of junk.”
Putting everyone’s safety at stake
As per the ESA, there are an estimated 170 million pieces of space junk larger than one millimeter across already in orbit. Roughly 670,000 of them are bigger than about half an inch across. With firms including SpaceX launching their own huge constellations of broadband satellites, Earth’s orbit is busier than ever.
It means earthlings are also at a greater risk of known-on collision events that will lead to even more pieces of space debris. Now, astronomers are trying to find a solution to the problem. Abbott believes one way to clean up the debris is by using magnets.
Could magnets help clean up space debris?
By spinning up a huge magnet placed at the end of a robotic arm to create special electrical currents called eddies, individual pieces of space debris could be controlled and slowed down, as described in an article published in the journal Nature.
“We’ve basically created the world’s first tractor beam,” the researcher told The Salt Lake Tribune. “It’s just a question of engineering now. Building and launching it.”
Recently, astronauts aboard the International Space Station were forced to take shelter in the Crew Dragon and Soyuz spacecraft as the orbital outpost came close to a cloud of space debris. As per NASA, the debris was created after Russia destroyed one of its old satellites to test its anti-satellite (ASAT) missile, with the blast reportedly creating around 1,500 separate pieces of space junk.
