We have a problem with space. It’s the final frontier, but we are making a mess of it.
And I’m not just talking about outer space, either, although there are some real problems out there.
For some people, the word ‘Space’ implies a poorly-lit expanse of nothingness with an occasional asteroid or comet passing by. If only it were that simple.
Increasing, the word is coming to imply — for the people who actually have to deal with ‘Space’ — a collection of maybe 9,000 operational satellites orbiting the Earth, and also maybe 25,000 large pieces of space junk — obsolete satellites, rocket parts and miscellaneous debris.
The amount of ‘small pieces of debris’ are too numerous to count. An estimate?
Most of this stuff is orbiting in ‘Low Earth Orbit’, about 500 miles up. At that altitude, a satellite or piece of junk has to be traveling at about 17,000 MPH in order to stay in orbit. So, a lot of really dangerous, high-speed junk.
Some pieces are as big as a school bus. That would be, a school bus with no one at the wheel.
From a recent article in The Washington Post, by its Editorial Board:
The Federal Communications Commission last month issued the first-ever fine for what’s known as space junk, against the Dish Network. The satellite television company failed to dispose properly of one of its satellites, leaving it at a lower orbit than it promised when securing its license.
What’s remarkable isn’t the transgression, but the penalty. Today, countries and companies alike sending objects into space are mostly held to standards lower than the average kindergartner. They’re allowed to make a mess, and they’re not really required to pick up after themselves.
And more crap is going into orbit, with each passing day. As if there was unlimited space for all the junk.
The Washington Post Editorial Board didn’t just file a complaint. They actually endorsed a solution that scientists have been advocating for many years. Require everyone to clean up their junk, once it stops working. At least, make them clean up the school buses…
Easier said than done, of course. Did anyone ever make the U.S. do something we didn’t want to do? I don’t think so.
No nation, however, can save space on its own. It took multiple great powers to create this clutter, and now cooperation will prove essential to clearing it.
The space-faring countries wrote up some treaties back in the 1960s, where they promised never to touch each other’s satellites… or even pieces of satellites.
“Hey you! Hands off my satellite! Yes, it stopped working ten years ago, but it’s still my satellite!”
The folks at the Editorial Board are suggesting we need new treaties, that will allow countries to pick up trash, no matter who the original litterbug happened to be.
Like, counties cooperating. A crazy idea, but that’s the kind of thing the mainstream media is known for.
There is no reason, other than carelessness, that humanity must run out of space in space. Time for the whole world to clean up its room.
Which of course brings me to the real topic of this column. The reason why we’re all running out of space, down here on Earth… and why I’m paying $150 a month to rent a small storage unit, to store the junk I can no longer fit into my house. Most of it, I will never use again in my lifetime. But it’s still my junk!
I used to be able to rent a nice apartment for $150 a month.
I actually consider myself lucky, because I lost most of my possessions in the divorce. I hate to think how much my ex is paying for her storage unit.
What am I saying?! I enjoy thinking about how much my ex is paying for her storage unit.
The main problem with space, for storing our junk down here on Earth, is that the American economy — heck, the entire global economy — is based on planned obsolescence and senseless consumerism. The only way to keep people employed is to keep them making, and selling, and buying, more and more stuff, and then trying to find enough space to store it.
When I look at my cat, Roscoe, I marvel at how simple his needs are. If only I could live so simply…
A final frontier, worth shooting for.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all.