NPR 1A - Cyber Monday: The potential threat of space debris

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying Amazon Project Kuiper lifts off to launch the first production satellites from Space Launch Complex 41 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.  Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/Getty Images

 https://the1a.org/segments/cyber-monday-the-potential-threat-of-space-debris/

This is a great listen!  Excerpt from the website:

U.S. officials are turning their attention to a pressing problem in space. Not asteroids crashing into earth, but something else: space debris.

Thousands of satellites have been launched into space because our modern life depends on them. There are about 10,000 active satellites in low earth orbit right now. But as more and more of them go up, space is getting crowded.

And where there’s crowds, there’s waste. Millions of pieces of space debris are circling Earth right now. There are big pieces — everything from dead satellites to spent rocket stages. And tiny ones like blots and paint flecks. But they’re all whizzing around at speeds that can be faster than a speeding bullet.

As part of our Cyber Monday series with the Click Here podcast, we take a look at the problem of space debris. What happens if an adversary hacks an old satellite and uses it as a weapon?




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