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Business Insider

A piece of space debris has punched a hole in one of the International Space Station’s robotic arms.
Nasa and the Canadian Space Agency announced on Friday that they found a 5mm puncture during a routine inspection of Canadarm2, Canada’s autonomous arm, on May 12.
The arm is used to transport spacewalking astronauts outside the station and deploy science experiments in orbit. It appears to be working properly despite the hole, according to the Canadian Space Agency.
It’s unknown what the piece of space junk responsible for the hole looked like, or where it came from.
China dodges speeding space junk bullet after Chang’e 5 moon mission
In total, nearly 130 million pieces of debris crowd Earth’s orbit – including leftover rocket parts, pieces of dead satellites, even tiny meteorites. In total, this debris weighs more than 10,000 tonnes, and more gets added every year. The chunks zip around the planet at more than 28,163km/h (17,500mph), roughly 10 times the speed of a bullet.
Nasa and other space agencies keep tabs on more than 23,000 known pieces of space debris that could threaten the space station – pretty much anything larger than a softball. If there’s more than a 1-in-100,000 chance of a collision, Nasa will manoeuvre the ISS out of harm’s way, since a collision could endanger the lives of the astronauts on board.

Last year, the agency had to move the station away from space debris three times.
But plenty of space debris is too tiny to track, and even pebbles, dust particles, or flecks of paint that slough off of other satellites can damage the ISS.
Among the biggest pieces of space junk in n low-Earth orbit are 2,900 dead satellites that float uncontrolled. Nobody can manoeuvre them.
‘Moby Dick style’: space junk harpooned like a whale in clean-up test
The worst-case scenario is a collision between one of these large objects and the ISS or a crewed spaceship. But even if two dead, uninhabited satellites hit each other, that’s also a problem because any crash will produce new clouds of smaller bits of debris.
As Earth’s orbit gets more congested, the likelihood of this type of dangerous collision increases.
Last year, a defunct Soviet satellite and an old Chinese rocket body passed alarmingly close, and two dead satellites almost crossed paths as well.


In an extreme scenario, a chain of collisions in space could spiral out of control, with the debris from one crash causing more collisions, which would create more debris. This could and wind up blanketing Earth in a practically impassable field of debris – a possibility known as the Kessler syndrome. According to Donald J. Kessler, the Nasa astrophysicist who suggested the idea in 1978, it could take hundreds or even thousands of years for such debris to clear enough to make space flight safe again.
Morgan McFall-Johnsen contributed reporting to this story.
Read Business Insider’s story.


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Space

Space debris punches tiny hole in International Space Station, damaging a robotic arm

Photos show damage to a robotic arm on the International Space Station on May 28, 2021. Photos: Nasa/Canadian Space Agency

A photograph showing a chip in the glass aboard the International Space Station, 2016. Photo: European Space Agency

China dodges speeding space junk bullet after Chang’e 5 moon mission

An artist’s rendering of the Chang'e 5 landing craft on the moon’s surface. Photo: DPA

Japanese mission to clear ‘space junk’ from Earth’s orbit fails

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s HTV6, an unmanned cargo spacecraft Kounotori, or stork in Japanese, being assembled at the Tanegashima Space Centre in Tanegashima island, Kagoshima prefecture. Photo: AFP

(FILES) This file handout from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) taken on July 6, 2016 shows the HTV6, an unmanned cargo spacecraft, "Kounotori", or "stork" in Japanese, being assembled at the Tanegashima Space Center in Tanegashima island, Kagoshima prefecture. An experimental Japanese mission to clear 'space junk' or rubbish from the Earth's orbit has ended in failure, officials said on February 6, 2017, in an embarassment for Tokyo. / AFP PHOTO / JAXA / STR / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / JAXA" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

The making of a space junk disaster? China’s low-cost microsatellites may lead to ‘space pollution’, say experts

Researchers at Northwestern Polytechnical University and their “cubesat”, which was launched at the Hainan Satellite Launch Centre in June. Photo: Nwpu.edu.cn

Low Earth Orbital debris is illustrated in this graphic. Orbital debris, or Òspace junk,Ó is any man-made object in orbit around the Earth that no longer serves a useful purpose. as of 2009, July. Credit: NASA illustration courtesy Orbital Debris Program Office.

PhoneSat 2.5, a CubeSat built at NASA’s Ames Research Center. Constructed using commercially available smartphones, PhoneSat 2.5 measures about four inches on each side. Photo: NASA Ames

E8MM22 February 11, 2014 - The Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (SSOD), in the grasp of the Kibo laboratory robotic arm, as it deploys

The picture was taken by optical satellite Jilin 1 on April 16th. It shows a variety of warships berthed in the port. Philadelphia Naval Shipyard was the first naval shipyard of the US. The picture clearly shows an aircraft carrier.

High Earth Orbital debris is illustrated in this graphic. Orbital debris, or Òspace junk,Ó is any man-made object in orbit around the Earth that no longer serves a useful purpose. as of 2009, July. Credit: NASA illustration courtesy Orbital Debris Program Office.

What was that mysterious fireball streaking across the Florida sky? US scientist thinks it was Chinese space junk

A photograph of an usual light in the Florida sky taken at about 2.15am on Wednesday. Photo: Sandra Shaw via Twitter

‘Moby Dick style’: space junk gets harpooned like a whale in orbit clean-up test

A harpoon from the RemoveDEBRIS spacecraft striking a square target. Photo: AP

A "space harpoon" designed to catch a defunct satellite the size of a double-decker bus has passed a crucial earthbound test.

The one-metre long metal device was fired at 55mph into a 3cm-thick satellite panel, successfully deploying four barbs to lock it in place.

ESA announced on 12 April 2012 that they lost contact with Envisat on Sunday, 8 April 2012, after 10 years of service, exceeding initially planned life span by 5 years. The spacecraft was still in a stable orbit, but attempts to contact it were unsuccessful. 
Space debris populations seen from outside geosynchronous orbit (GEO). Note the two primary debris fields, the ring of objects in GEO, and the cloud of objects in low earth orbit (LEO).
Given Envisat's orbit and its area-to-mass ratio, it will take about 150 years for the satellite to be gradually pulled into the EarthÕs atmosphere.[11] Envisat is currently orbiting in an environment where two catalogued objects can be expected to pass within about 200 m (660 ft) of it every year, which would likely trigger the need for a maneuver to avoid a possible collision.[12] A collision between a satellite the size of Envisat and an object as small as 10 kg could produce a very large cloud of debris, initiating a self-sustaining chain-react

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Nasa found hole in one of the station’s robotic arms, though it’s still working
Scientists monitor 23,000 pieces of space junk that could harm the station



Nasa found a hole in one of the International Space Station’s robotic arms, though it’s still working.


Space debris punches tiny hole in International Space Station, damaging a robotic arm

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Nasa found hole in one of the station’s robotic arms, though it’s still working Scientists monitor 23,000 pieces of space junk that could harm the station

Nasa found hole in one of the station’s robotic arms, though it’s still working

Scientists monitor 23,000 pieces of space junk that could harm the station