Orbital Debris

Abstract

Pollution is an issue that isn't often taken seriously, it is chronic and continually worsening. The reason for this is that pollution does not have an immediate effect on the environment or society. It takes time to see depletion of the ozone, bacterial contamination, or decreased air quality. Due to the lack of immediacy, society assumes that this issue doesn't warrant immediate attention. Unfortunately, these issues will rise in importance and become urgent, time critical, or in need of a solution. A type of pollution that we don't often consider is space pollution; specifically, orbital debris. There are millions of unwanted objects in space, many of which come from decommissioned spacecraft or broken parts. The debris travels in constant orbit at various altitudes and constantly poses the threat of impact with active spacecraft; which could potentially generate millions of dollars' worth of structural damage, compromise life, destroy communication systems, etc.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 25, 2014
Accession Number
AD1015067

Entities

People

  • Chris Keranen
  • Jason Douglas
  • Patrick Lobo
  • Stephaney Sarri

Organizations

  • United States Air Force Academy

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aerospace Environments
  • Altitude
  • Biological Phenomena
  • Communication Systems
  • Contamination
  • Debris
  • Ecological And Environmental Phenomena
  • Environment
  • Space Debris
  • Space Systems
  • Spacecraft

Readers

  • Environmental Engineering
  • Logistics and Supply Chain Management.
  • Strategic Security Studies

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Orbital Debris