Episode 337: Clean Up Time for Low Earth Orbit

Low Earth orbit is a mess, with flotsam floating around at speeds between 17,000 to 20,000 MPH. These pieces of space debris, some that are relics from the beginning of the space age are numerous. They are various sizes ranging from the very large, (spent boosters and the like) to the to the very small like bolts, washers and various pieces of small hardware. Their presence threatens communications and weather satellites, and yes piloted spacecraft and orbiting manned platforms like the International Space Station. A report issued last week by the National Research Council indicated that the orbital debris problem may have reached a tipping point where collisions of decommissioned satellites, empty boosters and smaller pieces will continually collied with each other. The result:more debris in low earth orbit causing the problem to get worse. This may prevent future utilization of low earth orbit, and cause a threat to orbiting satellites and yes the International Space Station. To talk about this problem further and discuss ways to solve this looming crisis, we asked two recent graduates of Singularity University's GSP 2011 class; Major Franz Gayl United States Marine Corps (ret) and the author of the book "It's Only Rocket Science", Doctor Lucy Rogers from the United Kingdom, both already quite accomplished in their respective fields to discuses the issue of space debris. Both had studied the issue of Earth Orbital Debris, and brainstormed ways to attempt to solve the problem while at Singularity university. You may follow Dr. Lucy Rogers on Twitter. Her Twitter address is @DrLucyRogers Links: Space Debris Research - http://www.spacedebrisresearch.com/ Web site of Dr. Lucy Rogers - http://www.lucyrogers.com/ Web Site for "It's Only Rocket Science" - http://www.itsonlyrocketscience.com/ Singularity University - http://singularityu.org/ Discovery News - "What Can We Do About the Space Junk Problem " by Dr. Lucy Rogers - http://news.discovery.com/space/space-junk-recycle-problem-110904.html