Scientists Say Space Junk to Hit Earth on November 13
Scientists say there at least 86 unknown objects floating around the Earth
Scientists say there at least 86 unknown objects floating around the Earth's orbit. | Photo: Reuters
Published 27 October 2015 (6 hours 21 minutes ago)
A mysterious mass of debris discovered earlier in the month has give scientist the opportunity to track a space object and accurately predict it’s course.
Scientists made an unprecedented discovery. A mysterious mass of debris floating through space will hit the Earth off the coast of Sri Lanka Nov. 13, scientists told Nature magazine, adding they have no idea what the object actually is, but that for the first time in history they will be able to track and accurately predict when it will hit the Indian Ocean.
The object has been dubbed by scientists as the WT1190F and is more than likely of artificial origin, they added.
“It’s a lost piece of space history that’s come back to haunt us,” Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told Nature.
The University of Tucson's observation lab called the Catalina Sky Survey detected the huge mass of debris and after research concluded it had been present since at least 2012. They said it has been circling the Earth at a wider orbit than the Moon.
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Scientists have deduced the piece of debris was likely place by man in space possibly back when the U.S. was carrying out their Apollo missions to the moon.
“So it has the right size and properties, and it is in an orbit which would be surprising for a natural object – to be orbiting the Earth-Moon system – but where we know there are a bunch of pieces of space junk,” McDowell added.
The astrophysicist told Popular Mechanics, that in order “to fit the solar radiation pressure effects on its orbit you need to assume a high area-to-mass ratio – implying the thing is hollow, like an empty rocket stage would be.”
However, the scientists said they may never know exactly what the WT1190F actually is, because upon entry into the atmosphere it will more than likely burn up most of the debris before falling in some remote area in Sri Lanka.
“It's coming in fast and will get very hot – it’s possible a few dense parts of say a rocket engine will survive to impact the ocean,” said McDowell of its potential disintegration.
But, McDowell warned he wouldn't want to get caught “fishing directly underneath it.”
The scientists have said they will use the even to simulate an incoming asteroid or some other large objects, raising alerts and tracking the debris in real time.
“What we planned to do seems to work. But it’s still three weeks to go,” Gerhard Drolshagen, who manages the European Space Agency’s near-Earth objects office, also told Nature.
RT said that although this is the first instance of a piece of space debris being tracked as it returns to Earth, the mass of debris is not unique, as there are 86 unknown objects crossing the lunar orbit, mostly lunar probes or parts of rockets.
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