American scientists from the University of Michigan (UMICH) have proposed a solution to the problem of detecting space debris that is invisible to radars due to its small size. The research was published in the official gazette Web site scientific institution.
According to the European Space Agency, as of November 2023, there were approximately 35.6 thousand pieces of crawler space debris larger than 10 centimeters in Earth’s orbit. These are parts of old satellites, used rocket parts and various debris. But besides these, there are more than 130 million tiny fragments in near-Earth space that cannot be detected from Earth using radio waves and telescopes.
UMICH experts found that when two objects collided at orbital speeds (up to 30 thousand km/h), they produced a rather powerful electrical burst, which was recorded by radio telescopes on the ground.
Additionally, during the collision, pieces of space debris become electrically charged and begin to emit visible sparks as they approach other charged fragments.
Scientists stated that electrical impulses are short-lived and quite weak. However, this method can determine the location of objects up to 1 millimeter in size; This is 100 times smaller than the current limit for radar tracking of space debris.
The researchers hope to improve the technique by calculating not only the coordinates from electrical signals, but also the material type and shape of the debris.
Previous scientists offered The four best ways to deal with space debris.
Source: Gazeta
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