Space Trek: What will happen if any space debris hits a live satellite or the ISS

The US Air Force maintains a dedicated team that tracks space debris that is travelling around the Earth at around 28,000 kmph. Should any of them strike another space junk, a live satellite or the ISS, the consequences would be disastrous. A look at some space junk facts..

1) The Lockheed Martin’s Space Fence Integration Test Bed houses a $10 million prototype of the Space Fence, a next-generation radar system, which enables the US Air Force to usher in a new level of accuracy in detecting satellite manoeuvres and avoiding debris on orbit.



2) Collision of space junk increases the problem 100-fold, as the impact turns two previously tracked pieces of debris into billions of new pieces that have to be re-identified and tracked.



3) It is estimated that one-fifth of all of CubeSats violates international orbit disposal guidelines. The rate at which they are being put into orbit in their current form rapidly increases the likelihood of collision in the near future.



4) Vanguard 1, launched by the US back in 1958, is the oldest piece of space junk. It stopped operating in 1964, but will continue orbiting Earth for 240 years.




5) The European Space Agency is working on a robot called Justin that would perform space walks in place of live astronauts, removing the possibility of humans being struck by debris. It would be controlled from the ESA’s Columbus laboratory aboard the ISS.



6) The chance of being hit by space junk on Earth is 20 billion to one. Lottie Williams of Oklahoma was hit on her head but was unharmed by a 13-cm-long piece of a Delta II rocket in 1997.