Satellite Gazing
Many times astronomy involves being aware of and tracking local phenomena like weather patterns and the increasingly crowded beltway of low orbit man made satellites. Last summer as I spent time inside the dome at the Gunnison Valley Observatory peering through the open hydraulic doors at the night sky I frequently happened to catch the reflected light of a satellite in motion. This happened in spite of my poetic delusion that our more removed atmosphere was less cluttered by man made technology than our terrestrial domain.
At this time orbiting the Earth there are roughly 13,000 objects being tracked ranging in size from a screwdriver to the International Space Station (ISS). A few weeks ago there was an unexpected smashup between a functioning satellite and a defunct Russian Ministry of Defense satellite over Siberia. As a result we now have countless debris swirling around in a highly radical fashion making it difficult to track. This difficulty could spell trouble for the potential of more inter-satellite collisions, available space launch windows and for safe travel of mankind to and from destinations like the ISS, the Moon and beyond. As the second wave of the space race heats up and new national competitors in space exploration enter the stage it is only going to become more of a ‘fuster cluck’ up above.
Space Debris courtesy of NASA
High density technology in motion is bound to collide as the automobile has effectively proven over the last century here on Earth. In January 2007 China launched a rocket that destroyed one of its own weather satellites and generated more than 2400 new items in an orbital spectrum from 300 to 2500 miles. China also recently smashed a satellite into the Moon in a highly erratic fashion. As China is new in the realm of space programming and experience I’m inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt that perhaps they simply don’t know what they are doing and are literally fumbling about in the dark. It does, however, pose a hazard to the international community and leaves me pondering the ethical rhetoric that just because we can use technology for particular ends does not necessarily lead to the conclusion that we should make use of that technology. Still, like a child appreciates the rainbows in an oil slick, I can appreciate the tracks of all kinds of objects moving through the crystalline Gunnison Valley night skies.
Tags: China, gunnison valley, Gunnison Valley Obserrvatory, hydraulic doors, ISS< International Space Station, moon, rocket, Russina Ministry of Defense, satellites, Siberia, space hazards, space race