Fragments as small as 2 inches across are drifting undetected through one of the most valuable regions of space, according to new research from the University of Warwick.
The debris is in a geostationary orbit that lies about 22,000 miles up in the atmosphere where some of the costliest satellites function.
Why is geostationary orbit important for Earth?
These satellites are in step with the Earth’s movement and maintain their place over the same point of the equator all the time. It allowed the area to become crucial for television broadcasts, internet connection, weather observations, and Earth observation for years.
Stuart Eves, one of the authors of the study and a space consultant at SJE Space, said that the area resembled a minefield, and no one could deploy any satellite without making sure there were no dangers around.
The researchers did not take any new observations; rather, they ran their archived data obtained through previous observations made using the 8.3-foot Isaac Newton Telescope in La Palma, Canary Islands, through image processing software that they had recently created.
Dr Ben Cooke, a research fellow at the Center for Space Domain Awareness at the University of Warwick, described the process as trying out several routes on an image set to detect faintly moving objects.
This led to the identification of 25 debris tracklets that had been previously undetected, and 80% of these originated from unknown objects.
Whereas space junk in lower orbits will have an atmosphere to pull it down and destroy it, debris in geostationary orbit is not affected by any atmospheric friction. As explained by James Blake, who was a research fellow at Warwick as well and co-author of the study, the result is that the space debris becomes permanent in nature, as well as being very difficult to see.
This creates problems for the satellites operating in this orbit since they are large and expensive, with solar wings that stretch 100 feet across.
