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Finally, a Strategy for Cleaning Up All That Space Junk

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Have you ever looked up at the night sky and noticed something streaking across it? It's not a plane because it's not flashing. Is that a shooting star? Make a wish now! It's most likely one of the thousands of pieces of space junk orbiting the Earth. More than 27,000 pieces of space junk are currently floating around our planet. That equates to approximately one piece of junk larger than 10 cm for every Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6 sold in the United States this year. Finally, a Strategy for Cleaning Up All That Space Junk The sheer volume of garbage up there is now posing a problem — those abandoned, nonfunctional pieces of equipment pose a real risk of causing damage to the satellites we rely on every day. However, according to Scientific American, lawmakers are beginning to take action against the growing pile of space junk. The US Federal Communications Commission, according to SciAm, has a plan to remove all those defunct satellites from orbit: The FCC announced a new proposal on September 8 to require operators to remove satellites from orbit within five years of the end of their purpose in orbit. This limit is currently set at 25 years, but many people believe that this time frame is insufficient and increases the risk of debris-generating collisions, which exacerbates the space junk threat. Finally, a Strategy for Cleaning Up All That Space Junk According to Scientific American, this is a far more significant development than it appears at first glance. The likelihood of a collision is greatly reduced by reducing the amount of time defunct satellites spend in space. This, in turn, can help reduce the amount of future debris — collisions between aging satellites have created thousands of pieces of junk up there right now. The FCC does not specify a method for bringing space junk back to Earth. According to Scientific American, this could be accomplished by using thrusters to propel the debris into the earth's atmosphere, where it can be "deorbited" by aerodynamic drag in low orbits. The proposed rules are expected to be approved by the FCC's commissioners by the end of September. If it is approved, The proposed rules are expected to be approved by FCC commissioners by the end of September. If it is approved, the regulation will go into effect within the next two years. The new rule applies to all US-registered satellites orbiting up to 1,200 miles above Earth.

By Jozeph P

Journalism explorer, tech Enthusiast. Love to read and write.

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