Collection of Debris in Space Increases
Karleigh Lundy, LCHS Reporter
4 minute read
Today’s column is going to be a little different than our typical posts. One of the joys of being a part of the KMI team is the ability to contribute to the mission of Keeping Space Clear For All while also being afforded the opportunity to be creative. KMI columns are an outlet for that creativity. With this in mind, I was able to reach out to my daughter Karleigh who is a reporter for the Louisa County High School paper, The Lion’s Roar, in Virginia. Knowing her interest in journalism, I approached her about writing an article for her paper that would expand the education on the problem of space debris and potentially get our younger generation thinking about the issue, as well as give her an opportunity to expand her reporting efforts to a topic she may not come across in an everyday brainstorming session. Once her school paper published her article we requested permission to post it ourselves as one of our KMI Columns in order to keep spreading that message far and wide. - Mike Lundy, HR & Project Management Associate
Collection of Debris in Space Increases
By Karleigh Lundy, LCHS Reporter
Humanity’s ability to explore and operate in space has been a phenomenon that has inspired curiosity and the drive to explore. These questions have led to discoveries that continue to impact humanity’s need to enter and operate in the orbits around Earth. However, the ever-developing threat of space debris has become a problem for this generation as well as the future.
According to the Natural History Museum, space debris is a collection of scraps such as paint chips, metal, and old ship parts including entire rocket bodies, defunct satellites and tools dropped by astronauts. A majority of these objects will remain in Earth’s outer orbit for years or, in some cases, decades. Debris is also a risk when considering their re-entry into Earth’s inner atmosphere.
According to an article by NASA, debris moves at a rate of 7 to 8 km per second. To put that into perspective, the objects typically move at 17,000 mph. Collisions between debris and satellites at such speeds can cause total failures to many operations in Earth’s orbit that affect aspects of day-to-day life.
On a regular basis, people’s actions are impacted by space including phone calls, navigation, military functions, and weather predictions. Satellites and other related space operational functions daily impact people’s lives on Earth.
“This debris in any form is concerning because each piece increases the risk of collision by the factor of its surface area squared, meaning some debris doesn't lead to just some more debris in a collision,” Co-founder of Kall Morris Inc. (KMI), Troy Morris wrote in an email. ”It is quite literally exponential growth of the worst kind.”
According to KMI's online column, the company was started by Adam Kall, Austin Morris, and Troy Morris. The three men were always inspired by space, and when they realized that debris would impose a threat upon their future ideas, they founded KMI.
“We wanted to make a positive dent on the universe,” Morris wrote in an email. “The focus on space exploration and industry quickly led us to approaching the problems of the field, looming largest of the seemingly unaddressed, was space debris.”
Space debris will not go away on its own and will continue to worsen. If the situation persists, the risk will increase, making it harder for projects in space to happen safely. KMI wants to solve this by engineering a way to gather and safely relocate space debris.
“If debris continues to grow before anyone can start collecting it, it will become harder and one day perhaps impossible for us to use space,” Director of Operations at KMI, Liza Fust wrote.
If satellites continue to be impacted by space debris, then there will be an increase in communicational problems.
“Satellites send information around the world, like prices of certain stocks, and what people are buying,” Junior Tucker McLeod said. “It would make life worse for pretty much everyone.”
Karleigh’s article does a great job addressing the issue we all face in our continuous efforts for space exploration and bringing attention to how truly important humanity’s continued use of our orbits truly is. Spreading the message to her peers through an article like the one you have just read is only one step in preparing our youth for a mission that will take tremendous effort and decades of innovation to resolve. As people in the space community can attest, there is a lot of debris up there, and the potential for more grows each and every day whether through collisions, failed payloads listing through orbit, or from the addition of new payloads at a rate that has never been seen before. I am proud of my daughter for so many things, but her article is special because she is using her platform and the resources she has to send an important message that doesn’t get enough attention. I would also like to say thank you to The Lions Roar for sharing Karleigh’s article with us and allowing us to post it on our media platforms. - Mike Lundy, HR & Project Management Associate
The above article is presented as it was printed in the Louisa County High School paper, The Lions Roar, on September 26, 2024.
Recommended column to read next: Tow Trucks and Tug Boats in Space!