Hey there, brother,Who you jivin’ with that cosmik debris?—Frank Zappa
Wouldn’t this just make your day? The object in the picture crashed through the roof of a house and landed in the family’s bathroom (National Geographic News, 2007). It would certainly be surprising to reach for the TP and grab this thing. Even though the article said scientists would be able to identify the object by the end of the week, I have not been able to find any information on the results. There is a strong possibility that it is a melted portion of a satellite or other contraption.
And speaking of things from falling out of the sky, one of our spy satellites is coming down (National Geographic News, January 28, 2008). The satellite cannot be controlled as it falls and contains hazardous materials. There is even a good chance that it could it somewhere in the North America (Baldor, 2008). So carry a big umbrella for the next few days.
And we have created a lot of this space litter since Sputnik. There are thousands of pieces of space junk in orbit around the planet. A NASA image makes it look almost like Earth has a metal atmosphere. Only 5% of the objects orbiting the planet are natural (Sullivan, 2008). At least 17,000 artificial objects have reentered the atmosphere in the last 50 years (Baldor, 2008).
Luckily, the bureaucrats have the situation under control Ten space agencies, including the European Space Agency and NASA, joined forces to create the Inter-agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (https://www.iadc-online.org/).
I didn’t intend for this entry to turn into a rant, but the stars are aligning (or at least the space trash is). Cthulu will soon start throwing rocks at us.
References
- Baldor, Lolita C. (January 30, 2008). Dead spy satellite could crash into US. National Geographic News. Available: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/01/080130-AP-satellite.html
- National Geographic News (January 5, 2007). Photo in the news: Mysterious space object crashes into house. National Geographic News. Available: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/01/070105-space-rock.html
- Sullivan, Eileen (January 28, 2008). Disabled spy satellite threatens earth. National Geographic News. Available: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/01/080128-spy-satellite.html
