Deja Vu is the Collisional Cascading of the Past with the Present
on February 13th, 2009
The risk of collisional cascading is called Kessler’s Syndrome. When U.S. and Russian satellites collided in space this week, more than 600 bits of debris joined 18,000 other objects orbiting our planet. These artifacts, including rockets, satellites, bolts, screws, pieces of titanium and paint flecks, travel faster a bullet. They pose a danger to other space vehicles, including the International Space Station. Kessler’s Syndrome describes a situation where each collision causes more debris which causes more collisions, until it is unsafe for anything to orbit the earth.
Houston, We Have a Trash Problem (Wired Magazine)
Lottie Williams of Tulsa, Oklahoma reported that she was struck on the shoulder by space debris (Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies)
Space isn’t remote at all. It’s only an hour’s drive away if your car could go straight upwards.
Quotation from Sir Fred Hoyle