Space - Space junk setter ISS i fare - Curt Lewis

 International Space Station faces terminal threat from space junk

The International Space Station (ISS) will have to be abandoned if zombie satellites and space junk are not cleared out of orbit, the Business Secretary has warned.

Alok Sharma said that human space travel would no longer be possible unless we "clean up our act" and announced new funding to track floating debris.

Estimates suggest there are 160 million pieces of space junk orbiting Earth, ranging from tiny specks of broken spacecraft, to large defunct satellites, and they are zipping around the planet at 18,000mph, nearly seven times faster than a bullet.

Yet, only a fraction are currently tracked and the number of satellites is growing all the time, with several mega-constellations due for launch.

Experts predict that if a four-inch piece of space junk were to hit a satellite, smashing it to bits, it would set off a chain reaction that could destroy all satellites and render space a no-go zone for centuries.

So, the Government has announced £1 million seed funding for seven British projects aimed at monitoring debris in space through lasers, satellites and artificial intelligence.

Mr Sharma said the projects were crucial to allowing human space exploration to continue.

"If we don't take action now, low-Earth orbit could become too perilous for satellites or even humans on the International Space Station," he said.

"The space debris expert Don Kessler predicted in 1976 that the space around the Earth could become so riddled with junk that launches would become impossible and vehicles that entered space would quickly be destroyed.

"Anyone who watched Sandra Bullock defy the odds of survival in the blockbuster movie Gravity gets the idea.

"While we are all facing challenges here on Earth, this may seem like a problem that is best kept out of sight and out of mind, but there is a moral and economic imperative for us to do something about this space debris.

"If we want to continue to reach for the stars in the years to come and realise our ambitions to use satellite technology to improve lives on Earth, we need to clean up our act."

The UK Space Agency is also worried that launches from planned British spaceports could falter unless debris is cleared out of orbit, and it has signed an agreement with the Ministry of Defence to work together on monitoring threats and hazards in orbit.

In 2019, there was a close call in which a spacecraft operated by the European Space Agency (ESA) needed to fire up its thrusters to dodge a £100 million Starlink satellite.

Currently, companies including Airbus are devising methods to remove junk from space by using harpoons and nets, but there is no way of tracking all the debris.

Enhancing space awareness
Companies funded include Lift Me Off, which will develop machine learning algorithms to distinguish between satellites and space debris.

Space awareness companies Deimos and Northern Space and Security will develop new optical sensors to track space objects from the UK whilst Andor, based in Northern Ireland, will enhance its astronomy camera to track and map ever-smaller sized debris.

D-Orbit UK, a space company with "solutions covering the entire lifecycle of a space mission" according to its website, will use a space-based sensor on its recently launched satellite to capture images of space objects.

Graham Turnock, chief executive of the UK Space Agency, said: "People probably do not realise just how cluttered space is. You would never let a car drive down a motorway full of broken glass and wreckage, and yet this is what satellites and the space station have to navigate every day in their orbital lanes.

"In this new age of space mega-constellations the UK has an unmissable opportunity to lead the way in monitoring and tackling this space junk.

"This funding will help us grasp this opportunity and in doing so create sought after expertise and new high skill jobs across the country."

"On 2 July 2018, a £100-million satellite called CryoSat-2 was completing its daily rounds of monitoring ice caps back on Earth from an orbit of 700 kilometres above us, when mission controllers spotted a chunk of space debris hurtling towards it at 17,000 miles per hour," said Mr Sharma.

"To avert a potentially catastrophic collision, engineers fired up CryoSat's thrusters and moved it out of harm's way. This near miss was not the first, and it will not be the last.

"An estimated 20,000 pieces of space debris, better known as 'space junk', are whizzing around the Earth as you read this. This includes zombie satellites and whole junkyard's worth of whirling fragments left over from space missions, risking catastrophic collisions.

"And this risk is only going up, with the amount of junk in low orbit increasing by 50 per cent in the last five years. Put simply, the plot of 'Gravity' could become our reality in space.

Satellites are critical to our everyday lives, added Mr Sharma, as they "keep us connected to families and loved ones during a pandemic, they track and give us insights on climate change, and they even tell us if we will need to take an umbrella on our lunch break".

"While satellite operators can dodge large pieces of debris and armour satellites to withstand the impact of smaller fragments, with the need for a growing number of satellites in orbit we must be able to monitor the space highways and to gradually clear it of obstructions.

"If we want to continue to reach for the stars in the years to come and realise our ambitions to use satellite technology to improve lives on Earth, we need to clean up our act.

Seed funding for UK firms
"That is why I'm delighted to announce over £1 million in government funding for seven of the UK's most pioneering space projects that will help monitor hazardous space debris and protect the vital services we rely on every day - from mobile communications to weather forecasting.

"And although at present we do not own a celestial broom or a tractor beam that can wipe out each bit of detritus, the companies we are backing are developing technologies such as artificial intelligence and sensor technology, that will help up our game in spotting these risks and taking evasive action.

"We are championing new ideas in the form of London-based Lift Me Off, which is developing and testing machine learning algorithms designed to distinguish between satellites and space debris using thermal infrared and optical cameras.

"Meanwhile, Andor will use a scientific detector camera to help the astronomy community track debris which can interrupt ground-based astronomy.

"Another project will draw on the expertise of Fujitsu and Amazon, as well as Astroscale, to improve the commercial viability of missions that seek to remove debris - clearing the space highway.

"Each project represents a first step to developing new UK capabilities to help protect the space environment.

"And they all demonstrate the very best of UK science and innovation - bringing together the country's brightest minds, taking us beyond the reaches of our own home planet to tackle some of our greatest challenges now and into the future.

"At the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987, world leaders defined sustainable development as 'meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs'.

"In space, this test has yet to be met. Only by tapping in to the UK space sector's growing expertise we will ensure we make this a reality."

UK companies receive funding to track space junk

TAGS: Ministry Of Defence, Satellites, Space Debris, UK Space Agency

Sep 17, 2020

Seven UK companies have been awarded a share of over £1 million to help track debris in space by the government.

There are approximately 160 million objects currently in orbit – mainly debris – which could collide with satellites which provide vital services for every day use. The seven pioneering projects which will develop new sensor technology or artificial intelligence to monitor hazardous space debris were announced by the UK Space Agency.

The funding coincides with the signing of a formal partnership agreement between the Ministry of Defence and UK Space Agency to work together on space domain awareness and monitor threats and hazards in orbit. This civil and military collaboration aims to bring together data and analysis from defence, civil and commercial space users to better understand what is happening in orbit to ensure the safety and security of UK licensed satellites.

The agreement will build on the UK’s current efforts, which has seen the UK Space Agency and RAF analysts working together since 2016, this agreement will further improve our space domain awareness capabilities.

Only a fraction of debris can be tracked

Estimates of the amount of space debris in orbit vary, from around 900,000 pieces of space junk larger than 1cm to over 160 million orbital objects in total. Only a fraction of this debris can currently be tracked and avoided by working satellites. The UK has a significant opportunity to benefit from the new age of satellite megaconstellations – vast networks made up of hundreds or even thousands of spacecraft – so it is more important than ever to effectively track this debris.

The investments will bolster the UK’s capabilities to track this space junk and monitor the risks of potentially dangerous collisions with satellites or even the crewed International Space Station.

“Significant threat to UK satellite systems”

Business Secretary Alok Sharma said: “Millions of pieces of space junk orbiting the earth present a significant threat to UK satellite systems which provide the vital services that we all take for granted – from mobile communications to weather forecasting.

By developing new AI and sensor technology, the seven pioneering space projects we are backing today will significantly strengthen the UK’s capabilities to monitor these hazardous space objects, helping to create new jobs and protect the services we rely on in our everyday lives.”

Funding for the projects follows a close call in which a £100 million spacecraft operated by the European Space Agency (ESA) had to light up its thrusters to dodge a satellite. A clash between the spacecraft was far from certain, but the trajectories posed enough of a threat that ESA concluded that they need to manoeuvre the spacecraft out of harm’s way.

“A motorway full of broken glass and wreckages”

Graham Turnock, Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency said: “People probably do not realise just how cluttered space is. You would never let a car drive down a motorway full of broken glass and wreckages, and yet this is what satellites and the space station have to navigate every day in their orbital lanes.”

“In this new age of space megaconstellations the UK has an unmissable opportunity to lead the way in monitoring and tackling this space junk. This funding will help us grasp this opportunity and in doing so create sought after expertise and new high skill jobs across the country.”

Algorithms, sensors and laser ranging technologies

Projects backed by the project include Lift Me Off which will develop and test machine learning algorithms to distinguish between satellites and space debris, and Fujitsu who are combining machine learning and quantum inspired processing to improve mission planning to remove debris.

Two companies, Deimos and Northern Space and Security, will develop new optical sensors to track space objects from the UK whilst Andor, based in Northern Ireland, will enhance their astronomy camera to track and map ever smaller sized debris.

D-Orbit UK will use a space-based sensor on their recently launched satellite platform to capture images of space objects and couple this with Passive Bistatic radar techniques developed by the University of Strathclyde.

Lumi Space will also receive a share of the funding to research new satellite laser ranging technologies to precisely track smaller space objects.

The UK is a world-leader in small satellite technology, telecommunications, robotics and Earth observation, with universities hosting some of the best minds in the world for space science. Space surveillance and tracking (SST) is a growing international market which space consultants Euroconsult and London Economics forecast could potentially reach over £100 million.