Lasers ‘Could Prevent Space Debris Collisions’ n4sa/arkiv/163169 Scientists in Australia plan to track tiny pieces of debris in space and blast them with Earth-based lasers to prevent potential collisions. The new Space Environment Management Cooperative Research Centre (SEMCRC) aims to predict the trajectories of debris from Mount Stromlo Observatory in Canberra. Eventually, researchers hope to be able to knock objects off course using lasers, forcing them to slow down and fall back into the atmosphere where they will burn up harmlessly. Matthew Colless, head of the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Australian National University, said the amount of space junk orbiting Earth, from tiny screws to parts of old rockets, needs to be addressed. He wants to avoid a real life repeat of events in the film Gravity, in which astronauts played by Sandra Bullock and George Clooney are left drifting in space after a collision between satellite debris and their spacecraft. Gravity depicts two astronauts cast adrift after a debris collision We now want to clean up space to avoid the growing risks of collisions and to make sure we dont have the kind of event portrayed in Gravity, Mr Colless said. There are hundreds of thousands of pieces of space junk in orbit that are big enough to do serious damage to a satellite or space station. Everywhere humans have been in space, we leave some trash behind. More than 20,000 pieces of discarded equipment, including old satellites, parts of rockets and other fragments, are orbiting Earth in a band between 500 and 900 miles from the surface of the planet. Ben Greene, chief executive of the SEMCRC, which is due to begin operating fully later this year, said: There is now so much debris that it is colliding with itself, making an already big problem even bigger. A catastrophic avalanche of collisions that would quickly destroy all satellites is now possible. Our initial aim is to reduce the rate of debris proliferation due to new collisions, and then to remove debris by using ground-based lasers. The SEMCRC project also involves Mount Stromlo-based EOS Space Systems, Lockheed Martin, Nasas Ames Research Centre, Japans National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, telecommunications firm Optus and Australias RMIT University. :: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202. Related Stories Space Ferrari Satellite Crashes Into Atlantic Meteorite Chunk In Lake Breaks The Scales Source Article from news.sky/story/1222319Lasers Could Prevent Space Debris Collisionsnews.sky/story/1222319news.sky/feeds/rss/technology.xmlTech News - Latest Technology and Gadget News | Sky NewsSky News technology provides you with all the latest tech and gadget news, game reviews, Internet and web news across the globe. Visit us today.media.skynews/images/web/logo/skynewshd_rss.png n4sa/arkiv/163169
Posted on: Sun, 09 Mar 2014 18:12:52 +0000
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