ISS Near miss?!

[Simms]

BBC News - International Space Station in debris scare

[Pete Presland]

i am surprised with the amount of junk up there this has not happened more

[Tim]

Yikes, that came pretty close

The astronauts all entered the escape pods. A while ago when I told one of my boys that the ISS had escape pods, he asked me, in all seriousness;

"Is that so that they can get out quick if burglars attack them?"

[redfox1971]

Just think off all that scrap metal,if only i could get it id be rich.

[foundaplanet]

Scientists estimate that there are more than 300,000 junk fragments in space of up to 10cm (four inches) in length, but there are many millions more pieces that are smaller.

Even fragments a few centimetres in size are a hazard because they travel at many thousands of kilometres per hour.

The one thing I have always admired about our "human intelligence" is the way we plan for the future......

Still you have to laugh.....:D:D

[Superewza]

Read this earlier, wasn't it closer than the station is wide?

This is a problem we need to deal with though, wasn't there a Japanese proposal to catch quite a lot of it in a 'net' then get it to burn up on re-entry?

[Simms]

Read this earlier, wasn't it closer than the station is wide?

This is a problem we need to deal with though, wasn't there a Japanese proposal to catch quite a lot of it in a 'net' then get it to burn up on re-entry?

If thats true then thats very scary!

Haven`t heard the one about the Japanese trying to use a net.. Not quite sure how that would work..

WHilst trying to research a bit more on that, I found this page showing an ESA mockup of how much space junk is floating around. Its shocking!

Images of Earth Surrounded in Space Junk | Natural Environment Blog

[Superewza]

'Fishing net' to collect space debris - Telegraph

Seems like the US want in on it too.

[Shibby]

Unfortunately, a lot of this debris is caused by anti-satellite missile testing. In particular, a recent one by the Chinese created the largest amount of new debris ever.

[whooshbang]

It amazes me how they detect these small objects racing around and only centimeters wide.... do they use some kind of sensitive radar system or something?

Using a net to scoop the junk up is an amazing idea, bringing the debris into the atmosphere where it can burn up would also provide a great photo opportunity:headbang: