SPACE JUNK A GROWING HEADACHE
The rapid increase in space junk in recent years has led to growing calls for cooperation on managing space traffic.
At a forum last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping called on Chinese and Arab countries to jointly build a “space debris observation centre”.
A United Nations panel on space traffic coordination said last year that urgent action was necessary, calling for a shared database of orbital objects as well as an international framework to track and manage them.
China in 2021 complained to the UN that Tiangong had to perform two emergency avoidance manoeuvres to avoid fragments produced by Starlink satellites, owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which predominate in the Earth’s lower orbital paths.
Beijing and Washington have for years traded accusations of debris-creating behaviour.
“A certain superpower, being the first country to conduct anti-satellite weapon tests in outer space, has carried out more such tests and created more space debris than any other country,” China’s permanent mission to the UN wrote in a 2022 document, referring to the United States.
The United States called a Chinese anti-satellite missile test in 2007 “irresponsible” after it destroyed a satellite in polar orbit and created a massive debris field.
China has invested in technologies that could be used to reduce the risk of a space collision caused by debris.
This includes deorbiting “sails”, which once unfolded can cause the attached spacecraft to speed up its descent into the Earth’s atmosphere, causing it to burn up without leaving space debris.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/china-spaceship-shenzhou-20-suspected-debris-delay-return-5447381
