“The Elusive Peril of Space Junk”, 2020-09-28 (; similar):
[Profile of the problem of space debris and near-misses of collisions with rockets, astronauts, and space stations. While few major accidents have happened yet, the amount of debris is only going to increase. The problem was first identified by Don Kessler, an astrophysicist investigating the threat of asteroids in Earth-Mars orbits for the expected upcoming Martian flights through the asteroid belt; thinking about the debris from asteroids colliding, he began to wonder about satellites closer to home. With proposals for Skylab and large power satellites beaming down microwaves, the problem had become more concerning, and Kessler’s projections indicated that it would soon be a lethal threat and would eventually become self-sustaining as debris fragments create more fragments—“Kessler syndrome”. NASA leadership angrily denied his modeling until incidents like Kosmos 954 made the problem undeniable.
Since then, orbital debris has been tracked in ever more detail, and the problem of Kessler syndrome has not gone away, but become more acute. With the militarization of space, anti-satellite missile tests, and large commercial fleets like SpaceX’s Starlink building up, the threat has motivated research into how to actively clean up orbit: harpoons, nets, electrodynamic tethers and more are contemplated and being actively tested. They will be needed.]