Thousands of space debris are present in low orbit. On the ground, scientists calculate their trajectory in order to avoid possible collisions. While usually these calculations are possible only for a few hours of the night, researchers have developed a technique to observe the debris during the day and without time limit.
Since the 1960s, the space surrounding our planet has contained a lot of debris:rocket stages, boosters and even inactive satellites. Today these tons of debris constitute a threat taken very seriously concerning the International Space Station (ISS) as well as other active satellites. However, some debris carry reflectors and are easily spotted. However, the majority do not.
From Earth, astronomers scan this debris using lasers to predict their trajectory and avoid possible collisions . However, the current technique allows this for only a few hours, and at night. A study published in the journal Nature Communications August 4, 2020 evokes a new approach . This research led by Tim Flohrer, head of the Space Debris Office at the European Space Agency (ESA) could revolutionize the observation of space debris.
Motivated by this research, ESA is already planning to build a new laser station in the Canaries (Spain). The latter will be located near the current OGS telescope of the Teide observatory on the island of Tenerife. The visual below relates to the future space debris monitoring network.
At the Austrian Space Research Institute, researchers managed to increase the contrast of debris spatial. Thus, these become visible in broad daylight! This new technique uses a combination of telescopes, filters and other detectors. In a statement, the scientists explain that now it is possible to observe previously invisible objects in the blue sky. In other words, they are now able to do laser ranging throughout the day in order to better contribute to avoiding possible collisions between the debris and the satellites in orbit.
“Ultimately, this means that we will learn more about the debris population, which will allow us to better protect European space infrastructure”, said Tim Flohrer.
If the leaders of the study were able to locate approximately forty different pieces of debris, their observations go further. Indeed, the latter have observed stars whose luminosity is ten times lower than that of stars visible to the naked eye!
