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48542
From: ao, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Kessler syndrome
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Interesting concept.. there's an article, behind a paywall, who's heading got me to search "Kessler syndrome". Seems a small piece of a larger picture.. our demise as an expanding, evolving towards greater, civilization.. and global warming sure is higher up there than this.. but with greater chaos all things will cascade.. as this suggest will happen with low orbit space debris. The Kessler syndrome (also called the Kessler effect, collisional cascading, or ablation cascade), proposed by NASA scientists Donald J. Kessler and Burton G. Cour-Palais in 1978, is a scenario in which the density of objects in low Earth orbit (LEO) due to space pollution is numerous enough that collisions between objects could cause a cascade in which each collision generates space debris that increases the likelihood of further collisions. In 2009, Kessler wrote that modeling results had concluded that the debris environment was already unstable, "such that any attempt to achieve a growth-free small debris environment by eliminating sources of past debris will likely fail because fragments from future collisions will be generated faster than atmospheric drag will remove them". One implication is that the distribution of debris in orbit could render space activities and the use of satellites in specific orbital ranges difficult for many generations.. |
48551
From: ryan, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Kessler syndrome
URL: https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/bay-area-astronomers-kessler-syndrome-20007722.php
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Bay Area experts warn of hidden 'syndrome' that could cripple American tech By Stephen Council, Tech ReporterDec 31, 2024 A half hour of long-exposure photographs shows streaks of light where fast-moving satellites passed by the photographer’s position at the latitude of 51 degrees north. Alan Dyer/VWPics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Much of what we want from our iPhones depends on satellites. That’s made the sky above our heads fuller than ever before. In fact, it’s worryingly crowded. The recent proliferation of satellites for personal internet, Earth observation and wide-scale communications is creating a newly busy atmosphere — SpaceX has launched more working satellites in the past five years than previously existed at all. Bay Area astronomers are split on when the space congestion may prove an issue, but there’s near-unanimous agreement that humanity has something to fear from the so-called “Kessler Syndrome.” Named after astrophysicist Donald Kessler and based on a paper he wrote about the increase of satellites, the “Kessler Syndrome” refers to a scenario where debris hitting satellites above Earth creates a ripple effect — broken pieces slam into other orbiting machines, creating a belt, or cloud, of space junk circling the planet. This cloud wouldn’t be visible from Earth, Paul Lynam, an astronomer for the University of California’s Lick Observatory, told SFGATE, but the detritus could stop or slow other launches, block on-ground telescopes and break the all-important modern systems that rely on satellite tech. Think GPS, weather forecasts, satellite TV. “It’s important that people realize, it’s not going to be a remote, out-there kind of thing,” said Lynam, who prefers “cascade” to “syndrome” for describing the event. “It would affect everybody on the planet.” Lynam said there were about 4,000 satellites in orbit in 2019. By the end of the decade, there could be more than 60,000 — and the solar panels that power them make breakable targets for debris. So when operators like SpaceX position their constellations of satellites in orbit a few hundred miles above Earth, they place them to avoid crashes. But near misses are frequent, and Lynam said regulation lags behind when it comes to stand-offs over potential collisions. In 2019, the European Space Agency said it had to alter a satellite’s course after SpaceX refused to budge its Starlink device off course. The atmosphere hasn’t always been so lucky. In 2009, a commercial United States satellite hit a defunct Russian probe at more than 15,000 mph, shattering it into thousands of pieces of debris and forcing dodges by the International Space Station. China, India, Russia and the U.S. have tested anti-satellite missiles at least once each, destroying the machines and spawning orbital clouds of high-speed metal — the U.S. pledged to halt such launches in 2022. A U.S.-backed public catalog currently tracks 19,100 pieces of debris, and 17,400 more so-called “analyst objects,” which are mostly also debris. All those chunks and all those satellites create a huge traffic management issue, and a regulatory dilemma, Lynam said. Governments, and, increasingly, private companies, would need to work together to build a plan. “Experience shows that to get any kind of agreement or policy through takes several decades,” he said. “But this is going to be done and dusted within 10, with the rate that we’re populating space with all these satellites.” Still, space is incomprehensibly huge, lessening the odds that 4-inch pieces of debris will hit anything else out there. Many astronomers think we’ll find a solution before setting off a lengthy chain reaction of orbital collisions. (Two astronomers SFGATE spoke with, and a CNN article published Dec. 27, mentioned the 2013 movie “Gravity” — it displays the “Kessler Syndrome” scenario, but is a bit unrealistic about the cascade’s speed.) Abhishek Tripathi, of the UC Berkeley Space Sciences Lab, told Aerospace America that “a lot of things have to go wrong for us to end up in a Kessler Syndrome” gradually and that he worries about it stemming from a war where a countries shoot down a satellite. Gerald McKeegan, an astronomer at Chabot Space & Science Center, mentioned the danger of meteoroids hitting satellites in an email to SFGATE, but said it would take “many years” of such collisions to create serious concern of a debris field. SFGATE got some concern from UC Berkeley astronomer and professor Alex Filippenko, but plenty of optimism. He said the risk of a “Kessler Syndrome” is “certainly not existential in the next year or decade.” Atmospheric drag eventually slows and brings low-orbit satellites and junk back to Earth. Higher up, there’s less drag, but fewer new satellites. Filippenko said he sees industry groups taking on the challenge of cleaning up and is hopeful that innovative solutions will receive venture funding to help space stay usable. “If we don’t start worrying about it, it will become a huge issue in the next decades, and certainly within the next fifty to a hundred years,” Filippenko said. “… If this syndrome does occur … it would be futile to launch additional communications satellites or weather satellites, because they would likely get destroyed.” |
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48544
From: Regent, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Kessler syndrome
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There is no global warming: https://elizabethnickson.substack.com/p/climate-change-is-a-100-trillion https://www.westernjournal.com/climate-scam-unraveling-world-bank-really-doesnt-know-41-billion-funding-goes Plants love CO2: https://wolnemedia.net/czy-rosliny-gina-od-nadmiaru-co2/ |
48548
From: ao, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Kessler syndrome
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Yeah, and R2D2 is your great grandfather.. which is to say you're only as good as your programming.. and the suckers that wrote your's failed. |
Responses:
None
48545
From: Redhart, [DNS_Address]
Subject: WesternJournal: questionable/low cred/CTs/propaganda/extreme
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Yes, there's climate change/warming So, that's just bullshit and only pushed by the worst, extreme websites these days. ****** Overall, we rate Western Journal Right Biased and Questionable based on story selection and editorial opinions that strongly favor the right and numerous failed fact checks. Detailed Report Questionable Reasoning: Far Right, Failed Fact Checks, Propaganda, Conspiracy Bias Rating: FAR RIGHT (8.0) Factual Reporting: MIXED (6.3) Country: USA MBFC’s Country Freedom Rank: MOSTLY FREE Media Type: Website Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic MBFC Credibility Rating: LOW CREDIBILITY (list of failed fact checks at link with history of site) |
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