Why in news?
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in a new study finds that Climate change will soon be making a mess in orbit around the planet.
- Global Warming – Burning of coal, oil and gas reduce the space available for satellites in the Low Earth orbit (LEO).
- By the end of the century almost 82% of the space will be reduced because of carbon emissions.
- Greenhouse Effect – Along with warming of air near earth’s surface it simultaneously cools the upper parts of the atmosphere.
- This makes the upper atmosphere less dense which reduces the drags of the debris present.
- Atmospheric Drag – Known as Air resistance, this drag pulls the space junks down to the earth by burning it.
- But having reduced drag effect makes less space cleaning making the atmosphere more crowded with satellites and space debris.
- Natural cleaner – Atmosphere is the natural cleaner to clean up the debris as there is no other way as there are million pieces of it.
- Circling Trash – According to the Aerospace Corporation, circling earth is home to millions of space debris which travels at the speed of a bullet and has the power of a crashing bus.
- Satellites Records - According to the tracking website orbit.ing-now.com, there are 11,905 satellites circling Earth, 7,356 in the LEO.
- Decreasing Density - The density at 250 miles (400 kilometers) above Earth is decreasing by about 2% a decade and is likely to get intensify because of the Greenhouse Gas Effect, according to British Antarctic Survey.
- NASA Records – Shows that there is measurable reduction of drag, realizing climate change component is really important.
Reference
The Hindu | Climate change and Circling debris
