Bengaluru: The travails of mission specialist Dr Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) in Hollywood flick Gravity after a cloud of space debris, triggered by Russia’s missile strike against a defunct satellite, hits her space station, best illustrates the growing problem of debris in space.
In reality, several space agencies are contemplating novel projects to “sweep” outer space clean of the trash given the potential damage which even a bolt or nut could cause to satellites.
On many occasions, rockets, including Isro’s PSLV have blasted off behind schedule in order to avoid collusion with such junk. In the light of growing concern about space junk, Wednesday’s test strike by a DRDO missile against Isro’s satellite orbiting the earth at an altitude of 300 km, would certainly amplify the need to check debris, according to experts like Prof Roddam Narasimha.
“It is serious” he said about the threat to satellites from junk, adding “people who have the capability to strike satellites will certainly make a noise about it.”
Such views, however, were countered by former chairman of Isro Dr. G. Madhavan Nair, “The test was carried out in the lower atmosphere to ensure that there is no space debris. Whatever debris are generated will decay and fall back onto the earth within weeks.”
