Nose

Páginas: 2 (325 palabras) Publicado: 7 de mayo de 2012
When these objects fall back into Earth's atmosphere, which they inevitably do, they behave just like any other meteor, lighting up the sky.
A 1999 study estimated there are some 4 million poundsof space junk in low-Earth orbit, just one part of a celestial sea of roughly 110,000 objects larger than 1 centimeter -- each big enough to damage a satellite or space-based telescope.
Space debris,also known as orbital debris, space junk and space waste, is the collection of objects in orbit around Earth that were created by humans but no longer serve any useful purpose. These objects consistof everything from spent rocket stages and defunct satellites to explosion and collision fragments. The debris can include slag and dust from solid rocket motors, surface degradation products suchas paint flakes, coolant released by RORSAT nuclear powered satellites, clusters of small needles, and objects released due to the impact of micrometeoroids or fairly small debris onto spacecraft. Asthe orbits of these objects often overlap the trajectories of spacecraft, debris is a potential collision risk.
The vast majority of the estimated tens of millions of pieces of space debris aresmall particles, like paint flakes and solid rocket fuel slag. Impacts of these particles cause erosive damage, similar to sandblasting. The majority of this damage can be mitigated through the use of atechnique originally developed to protect spacecraft from micrometeorites, by adding a thin layer of metal foil outside of the main spacecraft body. Impacts take place at such high velocities thatthe debris is vaporized when it collides with the foil, and the resulting plasma spreads out quickly enough that it does not cause serious damage to the inner wall. However, not all parts of aspacecraft may be protected in this manner, i.e. solar panels and optical devices (such as telescopes, or star trackers), and these components are subject to constant wear by debris and micrometeorites.
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