The ISS has Whipple shielding to resist damage from small MMOD; however, known debris with a collision chance over 1/10,000 are avoided by maneuvering the station.

In total, across all satellites, hundreds of collision avoidance manoeuvres are performed every year, including by the International Space Station (ISS), where astronauts live. The ISS has to carry out collision avoidance manoeuvres to avoid getting damaged by space junk.

Reducing the amount of mission-related debris released in spacecraft deployment and operations (e.g., clamps, covers for lenses or sensors, de-spin devices, pyrotechnic release hardware, wraparound cables) may be one of the easier ways of decreasing the future debris hazard to space operations.

The US

The danger in this scenario is that self-perpetuating debris fields in orbit will impede space exploration. With even tiny collisions having the potential to cause catastrophic damage, launching payloads and crews to space will simply be too hazardous and expensive.

DoD’s Space Surveillance Network tracks discrete objects as small as 2 inches (5 centimeters) in diameter in low-Earth orbit and about 1 yard (1 meter) in geosynchronous orbit. Currently, about 27,000 officially cataloged objects are still in orbit and most of them are 10 cm and larger.

Space debris can travel at more than 17,000 miles per hour, and even tiny pieces can inflict severe damage to spacecraft. For example, a softball-sized piece of debris carries the energy of 660 pounds of TNT — more than enough to destroy a satellite.

The estimated population of particles between 1 and 10 cm in diameter is approximately 500,000. The number of particles larger than 1 mm exceeds 100 million. As of January 1, 2020, the amount of material orbiting the Earth exceeded 8,000 metric tons.

Collisions with debris larger than 1 cm would disable an operational spacecraft, and may cause the explosion of a decommissioned spacecraft or rocket body. Impacts by millimetre-size debris may cause local damage or disable a subsystem of an operational spacecraft.

The only confirmed incident of a person being hit by space junk took place in 1997. American Lottie Williams was walking through a park in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the early hours of the morning when she saw a beautiful shooting star.

As long as humans launch objects into orbit, space debris is inevitable. Rocket launches leave boosters, fairings, interstages, and other debris in LEO. So do rocket explosions, which currently account for seven of the top 10 debris-creating events.

A meteoroid is space, meteor burning up in the atmosphere, meteorite is what reaches Earth’s surface.

Human activities leave too many dead satellites and fragments of machinery discarded in Earth orbit. If left unchecked, space junk could pose significant problems for future generations — rendering access to space increasingly difficult, or at worst, impossible.

Satellites don’t fall from the sky because they are orbiting Earth. Even when satellites are thousands of miles away, Earth’s gravity still tugs on them. Gravity–combined with the satellite’s momentum from its launch into space–cause the satellite go into orbit above Earth, instead of falling back down to the ground.

the United States

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has successfully placed 143 satellites in orbit, beating the record set by the Indian Space Research Organisation in 2017, when the PSLV-C37 launched 104 satellites.

NASA is one of the most successful space agency on the earth with a higher number of successful space missions. ISRO is more efficient and leading space agency on earth. The biggest difference is the annual budget for space missions. NASA has more budget for space missions as compared to ISRO.

Just like exploration of the Moon, the then USSR was the first to send a mission to Mars. According to the European Space Agency (ESA) database, Marsnik 1 was launched on October 10 1960. A flyby mission, it did not reach the Earth’s Orbit.

The second mission to Mars will be undertaken only after the launch of Chandrayaan-3, he said. After its first Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) was successful, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) called for ‘Announcement of Opportunities’ on MOM-2. Sivan said Mangalyaan-1 is “still working good” and sending data.

Somanath in October 2019, it was reported the architecture for mission is yet to be finalised and may also have a lander and rover. But, on February 2021, ISRO called for ‘Announcement of Opportunities’ on MOM-2. Sivan said Mangalyaan-2 will only be an orbiter mission.

Chandrayaan-3 ISRO chief K Sivan has said that India’s third mission to the moon is likely to be launched in 2022. The lunar mission was initially planned to be launched in 2021, but has been postponed due to the impact of COVID-19.

Well, that’s largely because its leading man, scientist Rakesh Dhawan, is played by Akshay Kumar. Dhawan, we are told, is a genius scientist who hums songs and has no personal life to speak of. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is what he lives for.

Akshay Kumar