Space Junk

[Pilot7893]

When I finally mastered getting Atlantis into orbit, I used to put it into an eliptical orbit, then seperate and circulatize. Now, to get rid of the tank, I get ALMOST into orbit, THEN to the OMS burn to stabalize it

 

[reverend]

When I finally mastered getting Atlantis into orbit, I used to put it into an eliptical orbit, then seperate and circulatize. Now, to get rid of the tank, I get ALMOST into orbit, THEN to the OMS burn to stabalize it

Maintain at 104KM Alt +100m/s vertical speed approaching MECO, MECO when PeA = 42km. This will land your ET in a safe spot everytime.

It's good to be space junk friendly even in the simulator

 

[Andy44]

I always feel like a failure if I leave upper stages or anything else in orbit at the end of a mission. With AMSO, of course, the pedals of the LM shroud remain in a high orbit around Earth, but at least the S-IVB is disposed of.

 

[tblaxland]

The best way to reduce the amount of orbital debris is to not put any more up there, or at least make sure what you do put up is not in a common orbit. For example, when launching to LEO you should make sure any bits you don't need re-enter. For GEO, objects should be boosted to a higher orbit. From what I understand the major space agencies have policies to this effect.

Space agencies and private organisations have a vested interest in not creating too much space junk because it just adds to the cost of shielding/avoidance manoeuvres on future missions. Metaphorically speaking, there is no sense in crapping in your own nest.

After some months, the fragments are spread over the whole planet in such an event, there is no longer a single orbit. You just have a new concentration of debris in an altitude range.

An interesting page on the debris field from the Chinese ASAT test.