It was year 1965 when US astrounaut Ed White lost a spare glove when he went outside his spaceship for the first time. From that time, astrounauts have accidentally added some of the more unusual items to the 100,000 pieces of space trash.
NASA says it has spotted debris hits of dried-up urine, toothpaste, and shaving cream, in an experiment placed outside of the Russian space station Mir. In fact an Indonesian satellite was struck by urine and fecal matter.
Although it may sound funny, its a serious issue and a dangerous one too. Not only can space junk damage or kill, you can get sued, too. There are lawyers who monitor space junk because there's a complex legal treaty about who is responsible when the man-made debris cripples a satellite worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
In the 1960s, America launched bunches of copper needles into Earth's orbit in an ill-conceived plan for post-nuclear war communications. Many of those needles are still up there. Other intentionally jettisoned space junk once included bags of trash thrown overboard from the Russian space station Mir and pieces of equipment pitched into orbit from spacewalkers fixing the Hubble Space Telescope.
Actually there are much bigger objects to worry about, including giant rocket bodies from launches dating back to 1958. Travelling at such high velocities, even a small body could cause trouble. Imagine a particle hitting you while you are out there inspecting your spaceshuttle.
Delta 2nd stage cylindrical propellant tank that landed in Georgetown, TX
News courtsey AP
Posted by Rajesh @ 2:45 PM; PERMALINK,
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4 Shouts:
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At September 17, 2006 8:48 AM,
Ammu said...
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As if trashing the Earth is not enough anymore......
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At September 18, 2006 8:25 AM,
Rajesh said...
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@ Dhanya - true. Its a serious issue. Out here atleast we are trying to control the poll. but out there its a big mess.
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At September 20, 2006 8:14 AM,
ammu said...
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Scary this is...now we have trouble with Atlantis landing as well....darn it!
(Trying to post comment for the 4th time...)
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At September 20, 2006 10:18 AM,
Rajesh said...
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@ Amrita - its a big trouble if you think about it. They spotted 3 or more pieces of debris floating in space and yeah Atlantis landing is in trouble...
Hey - What problems were you having while posting comments ? I believe the beta version is stil messing up and an ID may not work if it hasnt been shifted to beta blogger. In which case you'd have to comment as "other" user ...
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Ammu said...
