Preface
Who would have thought that the Chinese space station had been hit many times!
Fortunately, we have now found the "culprit" of the "sneak attack" on the space station, and the Shenzhou-18 spacecraft is carrying armor this time to more effectively prevent the "murderer" from hitting our space station again.
So, who is the "culprit" and how harmful is it?
In the face of the "murderer", what should we do in China?
Is the "culprit" the cause and effect of human beings themselves?
Although China started relatively late in the field of aerospace compared with some countries, as some people have said, the mainland's aerospace industry is developing rapidly.
From 2000, when our country first released the white paper "China's Aerospace", proposing to carry out pre-research on deep space exploration focusing on lunar exploration, to the launch of the first phase of China's unmanned space in 2004, and then to the full completion of China's space station "Tiangong" in 2022, it only took more than 20 years.
I have to say that it is indeed "cattle" that our country has been able to achieve such great results in such a short time.
However, it is strange that mainland spacecraft and space stations have also been hit many times inexplicably, such as the Tianhe core module and the Dream Experiment Ship, and their solar panels have obvious impact marks.
This inevitably makes people wonder, what is it that has repeatedly "acted so ruthlessly" against our spacecraft and space station?
China.com military official account, released on April 28, 2024
In fact, the "culprit" is not the "conspiracy of other countries" as many people think, but space debris.
The so-called space debris has been given such a definition, and space debris specifically refers to the abandoned mobile debris left by human beings in space, including rocket rocket bodies and satellite bodies that have completed missions, rocket projectiles, discarded objects in the process of space missions, and debris from space object impacts.
In other words, the "sneak attack" of space stations and spacecraft is, in the final analysis, the cause and effect of human beings themselves.
At present, according to the monitoring data published by the radar network of the Intercontinental Missile Defense System of the Americas, there are more than 100 million space junk (space debris) orbiting the earth alone.
Moreover, through the observation and analysis of relevant people, it is found that there are more than 20,000 known space debris larger than 10 centimeters, and it is estimated that there are 900,000 debris between 1 centimeter and 10 centimeters.
What does so much space debris mean?
This means that if we have the opportunity to observe the Earth from space, we will find that the outer layers of the blue planet we live on are densely packed with dazzling "garbage".
Looking at the picture below, I can't help but feel a little "shuddering".
Maybe some friends want to say when they see this, what's wrong with a lot of space debris? After all, it is floating in space, and it will not affect us humans, and the probability of falling is even more minimal, so why care?
That's true, but many people don't think that although space debris is very inconspicuous in human life, it can be called a "space killer" for our spacecraft, that is, those satellites, space stations, etc., how "powerful" is space debris?
How harmful is space debris?
First of all, let's take a look at the speed of space debris, according to official media, its speed is close to the first cosmic velocity, what is the first cosmic velocity?
It is about 7.9 kilometers per second, and the speed is 7.9 kilometers per second.
This is several times the maximum speed of the sniper rifle bullet.
In other words, once the rapid space debris collides with the spacecraft, the consequences will be unimaginable, if it is light, it will lead to the surface wear and tear of the spacecraft, the function will fail, and in the worst case, it is likely to lead to the disintegration of the spacecraft in orbit, and even threaten the personal safety of our astronauts.
To put it bluntly, it is to cause a spacecraft accident, just like a car accident in society.
Of course, if it happens in the disintegration of the tracks, it is much more serious than a traffic accident.
The "encounter" of space debris by a spacecraft will cause such a result, but what about the space station?
Let's take a simple example, maybe you will understand.
Although the ISS has been in space for 20 years and has undergone many transformations over the years, it is still "tormented", and at one point, a tiny space debris even penetrated the station's solar panels, according to the "Reference News".
How can a tiny piece of space debris penetrate a space station's solar panels? It's unbelievable.
What's even more incredible is that the speed of space operation is not nothing, the most important thing is that the relative speed generated when space debris collides with spacecraft and space station is amazing, according to the China Manned Space Engineering Network, the relative speed can reach more than 14 kilometers per second.
China Manned Space Engineering Network, released on June 6, 2016
Once upon a time, the Sires electronic reconnaissance satellite launched by France in 1995 and the wreckage of the Arian rocket launched in 1986 collided unexpectedly, directly breaking the gravity gradient of the satellite and causing the satellite attitude to lose control.
The above information inevitably makes people a little curious, since space debris is so "powerful", what measures have been taken by the continent and even countries around the world to deal with it?
Relevant measures taken in the face of space debris
What we need to know is that although the problem of space debris disposal is imminent, according to relevant sources, the most effective and feasible way is to dodge, what specific measures has our country taken to avoid space debris?
China Development Portal, released on September 28, 2008
Take the space station as an example, our space station itself is equipped with a monitoring system, under normal circumstances, it can make high-precision predictions and carry out emergency avoidance, but because some space debris is not regular, so when encountering serious or unexpected situations, astronauts are also required to have extremely fast reaction speed.
What do astronauts usually do?
In my opinion, on the one hand, they will turn off all the external equipment of the space station because it will reduce the size of the space station to a minimum, thus reducing the probability of space debris impact, and then they will follow the previous trajectory of the space station and turn the space station in a different direction so that the space debris passes through one side of the space station.
On the other hand, it is also possible to change the orbit and altitude of the space station mainly by using the thruster.
All of the above "means" allow the space station to prevent collisions to the greatest extent.
Of course, in addition to prevention, it is not enough, so in 2016, the mainland also launched a space debris cleaning vehicle called "Auron 1".
When it comes to this aircraft, it is amazing, don't look at the "Aolong No. 1", "its appearance is not good", but it is very fine, according to a reporter from China News Service, it is loaded with a robotic arm, which can grab space debris, and then try to take it to the atmosphere for burning.
In addition, Shenzhou 18 carried heavy armor this time, mainly to better protect the space station from damage, and also to prevent similar incidents from happening again when the US Starlink satellite approached the continental space station.
If the mainland does this, what will other countries do in the face of space debris?
Let's start with Europe, which is basically the same as us, as early as 2018, Europe conducted experiments on rope net capture satellites, specifically, they tried to launch a debris processing satellite.
Japan's International Space Station has also attempted to release metal guides to absorb tiny space debris, which can be discharged to slow down and reduce altitude, causing space debris to fall into the atmosphere and burn up.
From the above, we can see that we human beings are heartbroken to reduce space junk, although this is the case, I believe that as long as all countries work together, there will be a day when space junk will be reduced, in my opinion, the rational use of space is what we need to do.
If you have anything to say about this, you are welcome to express your opinions!
The sources in this article are from:
1. "Baidu Encyclopedia - Shenzhou 18, Space Debris, Aolong 1"
2. "The space station has been hit multiple times, China launches Shenzhou 18 and carries additional armor, the United States is highly worried", China.com Military, released on April 28, 2024;
3. "How to do sanitation in space when the International Space Station hides garbage and changes orbit urgently?", Overseas Network-Chengdu Business Daily, released on December 6, 2021;
4. "Foreign media: The International Space Station has been continuously hit by meteorites, and the prospect of liftoff is undecided for 20 years", released on December 2, 2018;
5. "Decrypting the Space Station [Dual Guarantee of Alarm System and Early Warning System to Achieve Synchronized Work and Rest of Astronauts in Heaven and Earth", Global Network, released on June 18, 2021;
6. Expert Interpretation: What Should I Do If an Astronaut Is Attacked by Space Debris When Leaving the Capsule?, China Development Portal, September 28, 2008;
7. "What should I do if there is more and more space junk? Is it okay to break it with lasers?Rope net capture may be better", People's Information-People's Science and Technology Official Account-Popular Science China, released on January 19, 2022;
8. "More than 100 million pieces of space junk, where do they come from and where do they go?" China meteorological data, released on January 10, 2022, but in order to improve the readability of the article, the details may be polished, please read sensibly, for reference only!