Event 1 Blog

 Cosmological Elements #2

    This week I attended the second Cosmological Elements zoom. The speaker who resonated with me the most was Cath Le Coteur. Prior to this zoom session, I had no knowledge or awareness of the term "space junk" and its existence. However, now I understand that it refers to human-made debris in space that orbits our earth. It is estimated that there are now over 100 trillion bits of space junk revolving around our planet (Carter). It was interesting to learn that only "27,000 pieces of orbital debris, or “space junk,” are tracked by the Department of Defense’s global Space Surveillance Network (SSN) sensors. Much more debris -- too small to be tracked, but large enough to threaten human spaceflight and robotic missions -- exists in the near-Earth space environment"(Garcia). Although in the image below, this junk has a sort of beauty to it and holds a lot of history, like the spatula story Cath mentioned, it can be quite dangerous and cause collisions.  



    
    During the discussion, a student raised an intriguing point about the potential harm caused by the use of certain words like "trash and "junk." I added to the conversation by connecting this idea to the concept of responsibility. Once something is considered to be trash, it is no longer seen as belonging to anyone. This raises an interesting question about responsibility, particularly when it comes to the vast and shared environments of outer space as well as our oceans. It is a pressing issue that highlights the damage that humans can cause to the planet and the urgent need for collaborative solutions and action. This discussion also made me question how to combat the issue of space junk, but more broadly made me wonder about the current laws governing outer space and the need for new laws. Cath responded to my question stating that she has noticed that each year there are talks of a "Space Junk Treaty", but there is never any validity to this. 


Sources: 

Carter, Jamie. “There Are Now 100 Trillion Bits of 'Space Junk' Circling Our Planet-and It's about to Get a Lot Worse.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 10 Mar. 2023, https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2023/03/09/do-we-need-an-orbital-treaty-there-are-now-100-trillion-bits-of-space-junk-circling-our-planet-and-its-about-to-get-a-lot-worse/?sh=24c9dae834a5.

“Cath Le Couteur.” United Agents, https://www.unitedagents.co.uk/cath-le-couteur.

Garcia, Mark. “Space Debris and Human Spacecraft.” NASA, NASA, 14 Apr. 2015, https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/news/orbital_debris.html.

Lucchesi, Emilie Le Beau. “What Is Space Junk and Why Is It a Problem?” Astronomy.com, 18 Oct. 2022, https://www.astronomy.com/news/2022/10/what-is-space-debris-and-why-is-it-a-problem.

Ngo, Hope. “The Secrets Being Revealed by Ocean Garbage Patches.” BBC Future, BBC, 3 Oct. 2022, https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220930-the-ocean-gyres-creating-huge-new-plastic-patches.

“The Secret World of Space Junk.” Adrift, http://www.projectadrift.co.uk/.




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