Orbital Debris [NASA]
AS STATED BY NASA:
"For more than five decades, radioisotope power systems have played a critical role in the exploration of space, enabling missions of scientific discovery to destinations across the solar system. NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy are working to ensure that this vital space power technology will be available to enable and enhance ambitious solar system exploration missions in this decade and beyond.
"For more than five decades, radioisotope power systems have played a critical role in the exploration of space, enabling missions of scientific discovery to destinations across the solar system. NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy are working to ensure that this vital space power technology will be available to enable and enhance ambitious solar system exploration missions in this decade and beyond.
We humans seem happy to foul our own nest with utter disregard for the consequences and as the nest expands, so too the filth.
Since 1957, more than 4000 space launches have led to the current population of approximately 13000 trackable objects (i.e. larger than 10 cm) in near-Earth space.
This junk pile includes a lot of radioactive material.
There are a much greater number of objects in orbit that cannot be tracked because of their small size and, additionally, hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of pieces of space litter too small to be seen - ranging from nuts and bolts to paint chips.
According to a recent report to the Fourth European Conference on Space Debris, held in April in Darmstad (Germany), the junk pile includes about a ton of radioactive fuel from defunct reactors launched into orbit between 1967 and 1988.
[Some] may be small, but with closing speeds of up to 12 miles per second, they pack tremendous energy. In 1999, the space shuttle Discovery landed showing evidence of 64 impacts, at least 10 caused by manmade debris.
Since 1957, more than 4000 space launches have led to the current population of approximately 13000 trackable objects (i.e. larger than 10 cm) in near-Earth space.
This junk pile includes a lot of radioactive material.
There are a much greater number of objects in orbit that cannot be tracked because of their small size and, additionally, hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of pieces of space litter too small to be seen - ranging from nuts and bolts to paint chips.
According to a recent report to the Fourth European Conference on Space Debris, held in April in Darmstad (Germany), the junk pile includes about a ton of radioactive fuel from defunct reactors launched into orbit between 1967 and 1988.
[Some] may be small, but with closing speeds of up to 12 miles per second, they pack tremendous energy. In 1999, the space shuttle Discovery landed showing evidence of 64 impacts, at least 10 caused by manmade debris.
NEXT STEP... MARS.
ABOVE IMAGE: The A.C. Clarke - A Nuclear Thermal Rocket (NTP) Mars Transfer Vehicle.
The motivation for selecting NTP as the propulsion system of choice for Mars is simple – it is a proven technology with a specific impulse that is twice that of today’s best chemical rockets.
During the Rover / NERVA programs 1955-1972, a technology readiness level TRL~5-6 was achieved...all the requirements needed for a human Mars mission.
1958-1959---"Project Orion" developed to design nuclear-powered spaceships.
"Orion" called for huge spaceships, weighing thousands of tons. One design proposed a flight to distant stars using a "conservatively designed" spaceship of 40 million tons, powered by 10 million bombs.
Though we're told the "Orion" propulsion method was 'abandoned', it has also been proposed as the only practical way of protecting Earth from asteroid impact.
SEE: NASA Studying Advanced Nuclear Rocket Technologies | NASA.
SNAP-10A, STILL ALOFT, BUT IN A DECAYING ORBIT
Radioactive Debris in Space Threatens Satellites in Use - NYTimes, 1995
1995... OVER 20 YEARS AGO, BUT IT ALL GOES BACK TO THE 1950s.
BEFORE CHERNOBYL, THREE MILE ISLAND AND FUKUSHIMA SHOWED THE WORLD WHAT A NUCLEAR ACCIDENT WAS CAPABLE OF CONTAMINATING FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS, BOTH RUSSIA AND THE U.S. 'EXPERIMENTED' WITH NUCLEAR REACTOR ENGINES AND NUCLEAR 'BATTERIES' IN ROCKETS AND SATELLITES THEY DEPOSITED INTO SPACE.
THE 1950s AND 1960s WERE 'BOOM' YEARS FOR THESE EXPERIMENTS.
SUPPOSEDLY, THE U.S. LAUNCHED ONLY ONE SUCH ROCKET FROM VANDENBERG AIR BASE ON APRIL 3,1965, THE URANIUM-FUELED SNAP-10A.
FEW ARTICLES MENTION THE U.S. NUCLEAR-POWERED NASA APOLLO MISSIONS 12 THROUGH 17, THE 'TRANSIT', LES-8 AND LES-9, AND NIMBUS SATELLITES, PLUS 'SPACE PROBES', VIKING 1 AND 2, ULYSSES, CASSINI, THE EXPLORER, PIONEER AND VOYAGER SERIES, NEW HORIZONS, GALILEO, OR THE MARS ROVER 'CURIOSITY'.
SHOULDN'T ANYTHING WITH NUCLEAR POWER-PACKS OR 'BATTERIES' BE INCLUDED IN THE LIST OF RADIOACTIVE SPACE JUNK?
NASA OFFERS A TIMELINE OF THEIR NUCLEAR MISSIONS <HERE>.
A radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG, RITEG) is an electrical generator that uses an array of thermocouples to convert the heat released by the decay of a suitable radioactive material into electricity by the Seebeck effect. This generator has no moving parts. RTGs have been used as power sources in satellites, and space probes.
A VERY BIG PROBLEM HAS DEVELOPED SINCE ALL THE NUKES WERE LAUNCHED... CHINA, RUSSIA AND THE U.S. HAVE ALL DEMONSTRATED THEIR ABILITY TO "SHOOT DOWN" ORBITING SATELLITES.
INDIA NOW HAS THE SAME CAPABILITY: India's Anti-Satellite Weapons | The Diplomat
ADD THAT, WITH THE VAST AMOUNT OF "SPACE JUNK" UP THERE, COLLISIONS HAVE HAPPENED AND WILL HAPPEN AGAIN.
HAS RUSSIA OR THE U.S. OR ANY NATION LEARNED ANYTHING FROM WHAT FOLLOWED THESE LAUNCHES, THE REALITY THAT THEY CAN RAIN DOWN ON EARTH'S POPULATION AND BECOME RADIOACTIVE POLLUTANTS IN SPACE ?
OBVIOUSLY NOT SINCE BOTH THE USA AND RUSSIA ARE ONCE AGAIN WORKING TOWARD NUCLEAR-POWERED ROCKETS FOR THEIR MARS VENTURES.
FROM NASA:
RUSSIA:
"Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation is already developing one of these engines, a spokesperson for the company, Andrei Ivanov, told the Russian newspaper Izvestia.
NASA is also working on another reactor-powered engine of its own: The Nuclear Thermal Rocket Element Environmental Simulator (NTREES) program.
NASA thinks this kind of engine could get humans to Mars faster and on less fuel than a traditional rocket engine. Less fuel on board would free up the rocket to carry more astronauts or more supplies per trip."
SAFETY BE HANGED!
IT'S ANOTHER "SPACE RACE", THIS TIME TO MARS.
Russia plans to develop a nuclear propulsion system that will be available in 2017, and will be capable of supporting interplanetary space missions by 2025. WHAT WE SHOULD HAVE LEARNED:
If Russia is able to harness nuclear energy to power long duration space missions by 2025, it would give them a significant lead in the modern space race.
FIRST FAILURES...
DESIGNED TO REMAIN IN ORBIT FOR AT LEAST ONE YEAR, THE SNAP-10A SATELLITE FAILED AFTER 43 DAYS AND WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO RECOVER.
IT NEVER RESPONDED AGAIN AND REMAINS IN ORBIT 575 MILES ABOVE EARTH, A SLOWLY DETERIORATING ORBIT THAT WILL CAUSE IT TO FALL BACK TO EARTH IN ABOUT 3,000 YEARS...UNLESS IT COLLIDES WITH ANOTHER SPACE OBJECT OR IS "SHOT DOWN".
THAT NUCLEAR-POWERED SATELLITE IS IN A POLAR ORBIT.
"A low altitude polar orbit is widely used for monitoring the Earth because each day, as the Earth rotates below it, the entire surface is covered. Typically, a satellite in such an orbit moves in a near-circle about 1000 km (600 miles) above ground (some go lower but don't last as long), and each orbit takes about 100 minutes.
Many spacecraft use such orbits, e.g. the US Air Force surveillance satellites of the DMSP series.
The next generation following DMSP was named NPOEES ( National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System).
The space shuttle avoids polar orbits, because flying through the aurora exposes astronauts to radiation and creates other problems. "
INCOMING RADIOACTIVE DEBRIS...
THE RUSSIAN NUCLEAR-POWERED SPY SATELLITE 'KOSMOS 954' MET A SIMILAR FATE AS SNAP-10A AND, IN 1978, CRASHED TO EARTH IN CANADA'S NORTHWEST TERRITORY AND SPREAD RADIOACTIVE DEBRIS OVER A 48,000 SQUARE MILES AREA.
RUSSIA HAD TO PAY CANADA OVER $10 MILLION DOLLARS FOR THE DAMAGE AND THE CLEANUP.
"The Russian TOPAZ nuclear reactor is a lightweight nuclear reactor developed for long term space use by the Soviet Union. Cooled by liquid metal, it uses a high-temperature moderator containing hydrogen and highly enriched fuel and produces electricity using a thermionic converter.
Interestingly, it was following a visit by Soviet scientists to Los Alamos' "Scientific Lab" in 1958, that tests on TI systems were first made in 1961.
The single cell 'ENISY' reactor (TOPAZ-II) development was carried out by the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy. TOPAZ is a Russian acronym for "Thermionic Experiment with Conversion in Active Zone".
The first ground test came in 1971, after Russia had no choice but to acknowledge its existence.
January 1991: A model of the TOPAZ-II was exhibited at a scientific symposium in Albuquerque, NM, generating U.S. interest in a possible purchase of it and the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization arranged to buy two Topaz-2 reactors from Russia for a total of $13 million.
YES, AMERICA AND RUSSIA HAVE SOLD "TECHNOLOGY" TO ONE ANOTHER FOR DECADES.
SURPRISED?
FAST-FORWARD TO 1995 AND ANOTHER RUSSIAN SATELLITE, 'KOSMOS 1900' APPARENTLY MET WITH SOME TYPE OF 'ACCIDENT' IN SPACE AND BEGAN LEAKING A CLOUD OF LIQUID, RADIOACTIVE SODIUM AND POTASSIUM COOLANT.
THAT RADIOACTIVE CLOUD REMAINS ALOFT TODAY, 2017. THE U.S. DETECTED OTHER LEAKS FROM RUSSIAN SATELLITES AND, AS THE NEW YORK TIMES REPORTED:
"The atomic debris, estimated at 70,000 detectable particles and perhaps millions of smaller ones, poses no danger to humans, experts say. But it threatens to damage working satellites and will force engineers to add more shielding to help protect new spacecraft.
The cloud is seemingly destined to grow, though by how much is unclear.
"We're worried about it," Dr. Donald J. Kessler, the senior scientist for orbital debris studies at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, said in an interview. "It looks like it could be pretty bad."
IN 1997, AMID CITIZEN PROTESTS, CASSINI WAS LAUNCHED TOWARD SATURN CARRYING 72 POUNDS OF PLUTONIUM-- THE MOST EVER SENT INTO SPACE.
"After a review, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy declared that "the important benefits of this scientific mission outweigh the potential risks."
Still, many people, including some scientists and a retired NASA safety director, remained unpersuaded. Foes tried unsuccessfully to block the launching in federal court and by climbing over barbed wired fences around the Cape Canaveral Air Station, where 27 people were arrested for trespassing on Oct. 4.
Some area residents, fearing the longshot chance of a launch-pad accident, packed up their families and left the area before Monday's scheduled liftoff. And some fled again two days later."
"AVERAGE CITIZEN" IS NOT AS 'DUMBED-DOWN' AS THOSE IN POWER LIKE TO THINK.
MOST DO KNOW THAT ALL RADIATION CAN CAUSE A CHAIN REACTION INSIDE THE HUMAN BODY THAT CAN LEAD TO CANCER AND DEATH...ALL RADIATION.
SOMETIMES THIS YEAR, AROUND SEPTEMBER, NASA WILL SEND CASSINI TO ITS 'DEATH' BY CRASHING IT ON SATURN, IF ITS CURRENT SWOOPS AND DIVES INTO SATURN'S RINGS DON'T DESTROY IT.
"On Sept. 15, at 8:07 a.m., Earth time in New York, the spacecraft will crash into the clouds of Saturn and burn up.
Science will never be the same.
Nor will Saturn..."
RADIOACTIVE ORBITAL JUNKYARD
Experts say the episode drives home the dangers posed by dead satellites, shattered rocket stages and millions of other bits of man-made debris that speed around the Earth in an orbital junkyard.
The mess has grown so great over the decades that it now threatens to erupt into a chain reaction in which a speeding scrap hits a large object, shattering it into hundreds of pieces that repeat and amplify the process in a cascade of destruction.
For more than two decades, starting in 1967, nuclear reactors were used by the Soviet Union to power low-flying radar satellites that spied on the movements of Western warships.
In all, 33 nuclear-powered spy satellites were launched into orbits about 150 miles above the earth,
The Russian reactors are threatening to wreak havoc in the most crowded orbit in the heavens, roughly 600 miles up. The band is jammed with satellites for navigation, surveillance, weather tracking and observation of the Earth's natural resources.
LIQUID BULLETS
"Liquid droplets moving at 10 kilometers a second relative to a spacecraft might as well be solid," Dr. Kessler said. "They do just as much damage."
As a safety precaution, Moscow boosted the old reactors into parking orbits roughly 600 miles up, keeping them from re-entering the atmosphere for hundreds of years
FINDING RADIOACTIVE 'NEEDLES' IN THE HAYSTACK OF SPACE...
IN 1989, NASA DESIGNED AND PLACED A RADAR DISH IN THE MOJAVE DESERT IN CALIFORNIA, PUT A 100-FOOT DISH CALLED 'HAYSTACK' TO WORK IN TYNGSBORO, MASSACHUSETTS IN 1990, AND BEGAN DETECTING A 'MYSTERIOUS SWARM" OF DEBRIS AT ABOUT 400 MILES UP AND MORE DEBRIS, MUCH MORE THAN THEY HAD IMAGINED, IN ORBITS FROM 530 MILES TO 600 MILES ABOVE EARTH.
THE "BIG ONE", STILL UP THERE
Area IV hosted the testing of the SNAP Experimental Reactor, SNAP 2, SNAP 8 Experimental Reactor, SNAP 8 Developmental Reactor, and the SNAP 10 nuclear reactors.
Only the SNAP 10 unit was fitted with a thermoelectric conversion system which produced electricity from the heat generated by the on-board nuclear reactor.
SNAP reactors used enriched uranium fuel with zirconuim hydride as a moderator and liquid sodium potassium alloy as the coolant. The fuel elements were arranged in a geometric lattice called the “core assembly.” A thermoelectric pump was placed above to circulate the coolant throughout the system.
Beryllium reflectors placed on ejection springs and held in place by a reflector retainer band were placed around the core.
Following successful launch and a radio signal from earth, the reflectors rotated into place and the fission reaction started.
The heat from the reactor was converted directly into electricity by a thermoelectric converter. It was the first complete reactor electrical power system of this type to have progressed through the design, development and flight test stages.
OH, SUSANA!
"The Santa Susana Field Laboratory’s Area IV’s extensive radiological contamination is the result of partial meltdowns, accidents, spills along with burning and dumping. Six out of ten experimental reactors suffered major accidents including the 1959 partial meltdown of the Sodium Reactor Experiment, or SRE, which released hundreds of times more of certain types of radionuclides into the environment as did the infamous Three Mile Island meltdown did in Pennsylvania in 1979.
DOE estimates that the final cost of remediating ETEC will cost between $167.9 million to $221.4 million."
[NOTE: FOR ANYONE WISHING MORE INFORMATION ON THIS HIGHLY CONTAMINATED AREA, SEE "SSFL AREA IV". THERE IS ALSO AN EXTENSIVE AMOUNT OF INFORMATION AT Rocketdyne Investigation.]
WERE AMERICANS AWARE OF NUCLEAR-POWERED JET AIRCRAFT?
The United States Air Force actively pursued two different systems for nuclear-powered jet engines; the Direct Air Cycle concept, which was developed by General Electric in Evendale, Ohio, and Indirect Air Cycle, which was assigned to Pratt & Whitney and carried out at a facility near Middletown, Connecticut.
The infamous Brookings Institute was in charge of most of the 'research and development'.
The program was intended to develop and test the Convair X-6, but was ALLEGEDLY cancelled in 1961.
On September 5, 1951, the USAF awarded Convair a contract to fly a nuclear reactor on board a modified Convair B-36 Peacemaker under the MX-1589 project.
Then there was the United States' Aircraft Reactor Experiment (ARE), a 2.5 MW thermal nuclear reactor experiment designed to attain a high power density for use as an engine in a nuclear-powered bomber.It would use molten fluoride salt NaF-ZrF4-UF4 (53-41-6 mol%) as fuel, moderated by beryllium oxide (BeO), and used liquid sodium as a secondary coolant.
In 1955, this program produced the successful X-39 engine, two modified General Electric J47s.
February 5, 1957: Another reactor was made critical at the Critical Experiments Facility of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) as part of the circulating-fuel reactor program of the Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Company (PWAC). This was called the PWAR-1, the Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Reactor-1.
The Indirect Cycle program, we're told, never came close to producing flight-ready hardware.Indirect cycling involves thermal exchange outside of the core, producing 'far less radioactive pollution'.
THE U.S. HAS HAD OTHER "PROJECTS' FOR DEVELOPING NUCLEAR ENGINES:
~ Project Pluto, beginning in 1957, was to have developed nuclear powered ramjet engines for use in cruise missiles.
~ Project Rover, to develop a nuclear thermal rocket, was divided into three phases: Kiwi, between 1955 and 1964, Phoebus, taking place between 1964 and 1969, and Pewee, taking place between 1969 and the project's cancellation. Along with the cancellation of the NERVA rocket at the end of 1972.
~ Prometheus Project, established in 2003 by NASA to develop nuclear-powered systems for long-duration space missions.
The budget allocated for the project Prometheus in fiscal year (FY) 2005 was $431.7 million, and in FY 2006, $319.6 million.
"For the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO), a spacecraft designed to explore Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, NASA intended to use the first of what they hoped would be the new generation of mini-reactors flown in space. The reactor would heat a fluid and run a steam turbine to generate electricity. The electricity would then power scientific instruments and an ion-propulsion unit. But this was not to be either. The JIMO mission was cancelled in 2006, and also canceled was the Prometheus Project."
ALL THAT MAKES ME WONDER WHAT'S POWERING THOSE ULTRA-SECRETIVE, UNMANNED SPACE PLANES THAT ORBIT US NOW.
IT APPEARS THAT THE POWERS THAT BE DON'T CONSIDER THE RISKS TO POPULATIONS ON EARTH GREAT ENOUGH TO CEASE AND DESIST FROM LOBBING BIGGER, BETTER NUCLEAR REACTORS OUT INTO SPACE, TO WIND UP WHO-KNOWS-WHERE.
WE CAN'T KEEP THEM FROM DOING THIS, CAN WE?
AND...SHOULD WE TRY?
JUDGING FROM JUST THE LIST BELOW, THE "DOCUMENTED" SPACE ACCIDENTS, YES, WE SHOULD TRY.
Past nuclear space accidents :
~ November 1996: Russian Mars '96 space vehicle disintegrates over Chile and Bolivia, likely spreading its payload of nearly half a pound of plutonium. Searchers found no remains of the spacecraft that was believed to have burned up. Eyewitnesses reported the flaming re-entry over the mountains in the region.
~ February 1983: Soviet Cosmos 1402 crashes into South Atlantic Ocean carrying 68 pounds (30.8 kg) of Uranium-235.
~ January 1978: Cosmos 954 blows up over Canada with 68 pounds (30.8 kg) of Uranium-235 and other nuclear poisons, much of which is thought to have vaporized and spread worldwide.
~ April 1973: Soviet Rorsat lands in the Pacific Ocean north of Japan. Radiation released from the reactor was detected.
~ April 1970: Apollo 13 lands near New Zealand with the 8.3 pounds (3.76 kg) of Plutonium-238 believed to be still in the spacecraft at the bottom of the ocean floor.
~ 1969: Two Cosmos lunar missions fail. Radiation detected as crafts burn up in the atmosphere.
~ May 1968: U.S. Nimbus B-1 lands in the Santa Barbara channel off California with 4.2 pounds (1.91 kg) of Uranium-238 later recovered by NASA.
~April 1964: U.S. Transit 5BN-3 hits the Indian Ocean with its 2.1 pounds (0.953 kg) of Plutonium-238 vaporizing in the atmosphere and spreading worldwide.
WELL, THOSE ARE THE ONES ACKNOWLEDGED, ADMITTED TO.
WHAT GOES UP, MUST COME DOWN...SOMEWHERE...BUT WHERE?
AND WHEN?
A LARGER NASA IMAGE OF THAT ORBITING DEBRIS AND THEIR QUARTERLY REPORT (PDF) ON WHAT THEY ARE AWARE OF THAT'S 'UP THERE' CAN BE FOUND <HERE>.
"The ODQN publishes some of the latest events in orbital debris research, offers orbital debris news and statistics, and presents project reviews and meeting reports, as well as upcoming events."
'UPCOMING EVENTS'?
HEADS UP, PEOPLE OF EARTH!
GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF US.
____________________
FURTHER (AND INTERESTING) READING
~ Click here for a broader chronology on astronomy and space, extending from antiquity to 2004.
~ "PROJECT RAND" is not what ost think it is/was. Read: "Soldiers of Reason: The RAND Corporation and the Rise of the American Empire", by Alex Abella (2008) ISBN 0-15-603344-5.
~ "The Wizards of Armageddon" by Fred Kaplan (1983) ISBN 0-8047-1884-9.
~ The Satellite War – by Bård Wormdal
~ GLOBAL NETWORK AGAINST WEAPONS AND NUCLEAR POWER IN SPACE
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