One might assume that the largest space debris would be the most dangerous.  While high budget films and fantastical scenarios may lead one to this conclusion, it is actually the smaller space debris which can do the most damage. For large debris, the International Space Station and other satellites can take evasive maneuvers and avoid impact. […]

In another testament to the need for space cleanup, last Thursday astronauts aboard the International Space Station were in danger of being blown to bits by space junk. For reasons I’m still investigating, NASA was unable to spot an old Russian satellite headed for the ISS until about an hour and a half before it was […]

Texas A&M is conducting research into the idea of a using a slingshot technique to throw space junk into a decay orbit. The slingshot satellite, or Sling-Sat as they’ve named it, would intercept a piece of space debris, “catch” it, and then “throw” it back towards the Earth and into a decay orbit. The Sling-Sat […]

Spacebook is a nifty tool for the average space-junker. It provides a model of debris around the Earth, and you can sort the debris by status (Backup or Standby, Extended Mission, Nonoperational, Operational, Partially Operational, Spare), orbit (look in the background to see anything outside of low earth orbit), mission (Communications, Early Warning, Navigation, Surveillance, Weather, etc.), owner (country), and by a few other specifications […]