Original subtitles

[Music]

a small piece of space they call it

junk had been causing a big headache for

nasa scientists

houston is monitoring a piece of debris

that could possibly pass in front of the

international

space station's orbit we're talking

about this six-inch square piece

this whole satellite colliding with the

international space station is within

the red

threshold there is not enough time to

seek shelter

traveling at 17 000 miles an hour

if we were to hit the space station

yes

foreign after half a century of space

exploration

we're now suddenly faced with what's

long been a staple of science fiction

an orbiting junkyard of cast off space

debris

[Music]

the american southwest is a breathtaking

testament to the forces of nature

that have shaped our world

okay we're coming up on it now

this is meteor crater near winslow

arizona

it is considered the world's best

preserved meteorite impact

site

[Music]

[Music]

meet donald kessler retired head of

orbital debris at nasa

his guide eduardo gonzalez a 16-year

veteran of meteor crater

and a man who shares kesler's passion

for the wonders of the universe

so don how was your ride up here oh it's

wonderful it's like landing on the moon

but where on earth can you believe it at

meteor crater

they always find common ground

from the asteroid belt that happened 50

000 years ago

for dawn this place brings some of the

science of orbital debris to life

in a big way follow me and i'll show you

nearly one mile across two and a half

miles around

and 550 feet deep meteor crater is the

astounding

outcome of a nickel iron meteorite

hitting earth with the energy of more

than

20 million tons of tnt

creating all of this in just 10 seconds

so

the fact that this meteorite came from

outer space

makes me awestruck

we're just seeing a small slice of the

process that really made the earth what

it is

[Music]

it's a sobering reminder of the

incredible collisions that occur

throughout the universe

from meteor impacts like this one to the

collision

of entire galaxies

[Music]

throughout time space collisions have

occurred as part of the natural process

scientists believe that billions of

years from now

our own milky way galaxy and its closest

neighbor the andromeda spiral galaxy

could collide and merge to create a new

giant elliptical galaxy spewing stars

along the way

incredible

[Music]

collisions like this have forever played

a major role in the creation and

formation of our own solar system

it's this natural process that concerned

kessler

over 30 years ago

kessler's question was if all of these

collisions are occurring in nature

what's going to happen to all of the

man-made objects we're putting into

space

at the time kester's thinking did not

align with popular beliefs

ever since humans ventured into space

we've embraced

the big sky theory

the theory holds that space is so big

you could launch anything into orbit and

it wouldn't collide with anything else

but it turns out that space is smaller

than we thought

low earth orbit or leo as it's called is

home to the international space station

the hubble telescope

and most of our satellites

in middle earth orbit we find gps and

weather satellites

geosynchronous orbit or geo

the orbit farthest away from the earth

is crowded

with communication satellites

with so many objects careening through

the same altitudes

it's not hard to imagine that some may

eventually collide

known as the kessler syndrome kessler's

prediction stated that

random collisions between man-made

objects

would create smaller debris that would

become increasingly hazardous to

spacecraft the resulting

chain reaction would create

exponentially expanding

clouds of debris

even if we don't launch anything else

into space this

orbiting belt of debris could very well

alter space exploration

as we know it

is it possible that we're now at the

tipping point of this cascading

uncontrollable event

alarmingly in the three decades since

donald kessler's prediction

the amount of debris in low earth and

geosynchronous orbit

has grown at a rapidly expanding rate

into a minefield of discarded trash

in the past most of the small particles

came from

the bigger objects falling apart in the

future

and we're reaching that threshold right

now the objects are going to come from

random collisions

just like in the solar system

just like our once unspoiled ecosystems

here on earth

our orbits are becoming increasingly

endangered

from space exploration to satellite

communication

humans have developed a profound

connection to space

what would happen if it were all to

suddenly go away

launched in 1993 cosmos 2251

provides communications for russian

military and intelligence forces

from low earth orbit satellites like

this

are part of what's called a

constellation

a grouping of satellites spread out in a

set of orbital rings providing

an uninterrupted stream of

communications

with each rotation in as little as 90

minutes

these and thousands of other satellites

orbit earth

16 times per day

the gravitational pull from nearby earth

is so strong

every satellite has to travel at hyper

velocity speeds

upwards of seventeen thousand miles per

hour

the pool of gravity balanced against the

satellite's velocity

creates this curved orbital path

satellites and their round-the-clock

services are a fact of modern life

leo is ideal for communications

satellites like iridium 33

which provides voice and data coverage

for cellular telephones

with satellites like cosmos and iridium

constantly crossing each other's paths

they often experience what satellite

operators refer

to as close approaches two

satellites passing within just a few

short miles of one another

amazingly that can happen around 1500

times a day

space is indeed a busy place

our planet's need for communication has

transformed what was once called

the final frontier into something far

less romantic and far more congested

just fifty years ago the boundaries

seemed

limitless

from a ground station nestled in the

mountains at andover maine a signal is

sent to a speeding satellite

an historic feat that could reshape

man's future

that satellite of course is the telstar

170 pounds of messages and computer data

all can be handled by the orbiting

device

ironically this technological wonder

died one year later

becoming what is known as a zombie

satellite

telstar began the revolution in

communications

that now features a fleet of satellites

in the region we know as geo

these satellites form a densely

populated belt that circles the equator

they facilitate most of the world's

television military

and internet communications because its

orbit mirrors earth's rotation

a satellite will appear to hover over a

point on the earth's surface

the result 24 7 continuous coverage

from air to sea to land

think about this here on earth when you

download a music

file post a video tweet friend someone

or watch your favorite

cable tv show it's coming from geo

our busy lives on earth have become

deeply connected to space

just like a coral reef or rain forest

geo is a limited

natural resource there's only one spot

in geo for each satellite

to maintain position satellites may

drift due to gravitational pull from

both the sun

and the moon slowly changing their

orbits

enter station keepers traffic cops of

space

they send signals commanding satellites

to adjust orbits

by firing up the onboard thrusters

keeping them out of harm's way

but no amount of station keeping would

have altered the course of what was to

become the largest debris generating

event

on record

in early 2007 an anti-satellite missile

test took place in leo

its target a dead weather satellite

[Applause]

in less than 24 hours the debris

encircled the earth

hovering at the original impact altitude

of over 500 miles

high enough so that the pieces won't

come down

but low enough so that they have the

potential to affect

almost all other objects in low earth

orbit

including the international space

station

today as the debris cloud keeps growing

so does our understanding of it the

majority of debris from this one event

will remain a hazard in our skies for

centuries to come

this visualization shows the formation

of one of the first galaxies

massive stars filling the universe with

light

beginning when it was 300 million years

old

and continuing up to its present age

of 13.7 billion years

it's an awe-inspiring look at the

lifespan of the universe

with galaxies forming and naturally

colliding

ultimately spinning the massive

thread-like structure

of the cosmic web

[Music]

at lowell observatory don kessler is

guided by kim

hermann post-doctoral associate

i think it's a great way to teach

astronomy to kids arizona is known for

its observatories and fortunately

very close to meteor crater is lowell

all my life i've been interested in

astronomy

i visited several observatories that

were designed for the purpose of looking

at

satellites but never one with astronomy

here astronomers are well connected to

the stars

[Music]

boarded by a ponderosa pine forest 8 000

feet up

elevation and absolute isolation create

a pristine sky

for professional and amateur astronomers

of all ages

the night sky here opens up infinite

possibilities for the naked eye

here the sky is so clear and so dark

that we don't even need telescopes to

see what's going on

in the sky m

is using our smartphone to stargaze and

know what she's looking at

and over there saturn should be coming

out

when i think about saturn's beautiful

rings i think of collisions in space

and what earth could look like millions

of years from now

over time collisions would create more

debris

and in turn even more collisions

gradually the debris would shrink in

size and speeds would slow until finally

the earth would be surrounded by stable

saturn-like rings

when i look at the night sky the first

thing i notice is stars

the beauty of the universe is striking

to me

the next thing i'll notice is meteors if

i see a meteor i feel like i'm lucky

because that also reminds me of these

particles passing through space

then i may notice something flickering

and moving and realize that i'm looking

at a satellite orbiting the earth

those satellites are there because we

put them there

i may see another one traveling in the

opposite direction it could collide with

the first one

their paths do cross an astronaut was

asked this question

when you're in orbit and see these

things in space does that worry you

his answer was i worry more about what i

don't see

our belief that what goes up must calm

down

isn't always true it's estimated that

leo contains 6 000 tons of space

junk jio is home to 400 dead satellites

parked into a higher graveyard orbit

where they will remain for hundreds of

years

that's a whole lot of junk

so what exactly is out there

over the last 50 years we've launched

several thousand objects into space

yet there are only around a thousand

spacecraft that are operational at this

time

what may surprise many people is that

once an object stops functioning

we leave it in orbit every single one of

these non-operational spacecrafts

is a potential source of debris

in fact most spacecrafts that are

launched into orbit

actually leave a trail of debris in the

process

upper stage rocket bodies weighing

several tons

make up a good portion of the junk in

space as do

mission related objects like cast off

bolts or o-rings

the rest are miscellaneous fragments

exploded rockets left over fuel

and the list goes on

but even with this incredible amount of

debris

few people were taking the notion of

space junk seriously

until the morning february the 10th 2009

earlier that day a report was issued

predicting that iridium 33

would encounter a close approach of just

1900 feet

with another spacecraft

it's cosmos 2251

traveling at the same speed as iridium

amazingly this collision alert wasn't

even among the top predicted for any of

the iridium satellites for the coming

week

but at 4 56 pm the time

predicted for the close approach iridium

33

went silent

[Music]

two satellites that had simultaneously

circled the planet for a dozen years

had collided cosmos as it turned out was

a dead satellite

ceasing to function in 1995 just two

years after it was launched

now more than a hundred thousand pieces

from this collision

cloud low earth orbit

the iridium cosmos collision was very

much a game changer

there were those who thought of space in

terms of a big sky

theory that it was limitless and we

didn't need to worry about

ever crowding it it became very obvious

that that wasn't true

and people begin to consider what do we

need to do to keep this from happening

again

far from space deep in the desert near

white sands new mexico

sits the remote hyper velocity test

laboratory

where engineers are providing solutions

required to advance

space travel in the face of these

gathering obstacles

scientists analyze what we can only

imagine

hyper velocity impacts collisions

between objects traveling at speeds

of up to 15 000 miles per hour

these scientific visualizations show a

fragment no bigger than a bb

blasting through an aluminum plate

typically used to protect

spacecraft even the smallest of impacts

scatter debris

delivering widespread damage

whether it's a circuit board a wayward

bolt or even the tiniest chip of paint

orbital debris traveling at these speeds

poses a very real threat

because of this the international space

station

features extra shielding as shown in red

over the areas most likely to be hit

to further protect the iss its orbit is

monitored within what is referred to

as a pizza box creating a safe zone on

all sides to help keep it out of harm's

way

that's the job of the u.s space

surveillance network

where they detect and catalog man-made

objects

utilizing a vast array of radars and

sensors

we're able to track thousands of pieces

of space junk

larger than a softball

some of them like rocket boosters are

the size of a school bus

but what's far more troubling is all the

debris

that can't be tracked

debris the size of marbles among them

waste from rocket propellant and

fragments from collisions

is capable of inflicting lethal damage

millions of particles the size of darts

are far beyond detection

but the craters they produce on

spacecraft are well documented

most importantly the network charts the

orbital paths of the catalog debris

and issues collision alerts to station

keepers

so where do we go from here forces of

nature

and natural collisions will continue to

shape our universe

but man-made collisions perhaps

those we can do something about

the good news is that people have begun

to come up with new ideas to bring back

the pristine environment that we would

like space to be

scientists and engineers are developing

breakthrough innovations

to help us begin cleaning up space

someday soon

the question is how do we catch up to

and capture debris

tumbling through low earth orbit at

thousands of miles an hour

and then how do we slow it down so that

it falls out of orbit

and burns up in the atmosphere

one fascinating concept involves the use

of an electrodynamic tether

which would deorbit a spacecraft by

generating drag

through interactions between currents in

the tether and the earth's magnetic

field

this increased drag would lower the

spacecraft out of orbit

until it re-enters the atmosphere and

burns up

we may also be able to capture debris

with a net

japan space agency has been working with

a fishing net manufacturer

to look at creating a space fishing net

which

like the tether could be powered using

the earth's magnetosphere

imagine that a centuries-old fishing

tool

might just become a brand new tool for

cleaning up space

lasers could one day sweep space

striking

smaller objects slowing them down and

causing them to tumble

into the atmosphere

solar sails could someday be part of the

satellites we launch

helping them to de-orbit once their work

in space is done

space-faring nations are now working to

develop

sustainable methods to explore space and

new technology to reclaim what has been

left in orbit

as we continue to launch our dreams into

space

what if one day objects in space were

located and captured

by a garbage vehicle

[Music]

the vehicle could then dock at a

recycling facility

a place where space debris could be

stored and recycled to create

new parts

imagine aluminum and fuel from

centuries-old upper stage rockets

recovered

and poured into an industrial outer

space post

industrializing space is never an issue

of science fiction

it's more of a question of do we want to

do it and when do we have the

infrastructure established so that we

can do it

it's what we will do in the future as we

move out into space

space-based recycling could someday

become a reality

launching a new greener era of space

exploration

for as long as humans have walked the

planet we've looked at the heavens to

help us define our role in the universe

the celestial bodies in our skies and

the constellations they form

have forever shaped our notions of time

and place today constellations of our

own making fill the night skies

as we continue to push skyward relying

on what the universe has taught us

where would we be if we couldn't consult

the stars growing up it was my fantasy

that i would get to see

humanity spread off of the earth and

throughout the solar system

so do i think this snowballing event

will actually happen

i can't imagine after dreaming and

working towards space flight and after

50 years of having achieved it that we

would ever

cut ourselves off from space that goes

against everything

that humanity's ever strived for my

legacy will probably always include

being known as the father of space junk

what i hope that means is that we

continue to maintain access to space

and learn more about life in the

environment

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

so

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

you