New “star signs” have been identified above Earth made from defunct satellites and parts of old rockets to draw attention to the worsening space debris problem.
Called Space Trash Signs, the project is the result of a collaboration between space sustainability company Privateer, German design agency Moby Digg, visual artist Frank Gräfe and communications agency Serviceplan Innovation. Space junk constellations can be explored on a special websitein stargazing applications and in a special program shown in planetariums around the world.
The aim of the project is to draw attention to the growing problem of space debris ahead of a meeting of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space in June, which will discuss the measures needed to keep space around Earth in order, the authors said in a statement.
Connected: 6 types of objects that can cause a space debris apocalypse
The constellations were assembled based on real space debris tracking data collected by Privateer, but unlike their more famous star constellations, they cannot be observed from Earth. In fact, each of the constellations only existed for a brief moment as the space debris orbited Earth at speeds in excess of 17,000 miles per hour (27,359 kilometers per hour).
AI was used to find patterns in Privateer’s data, and the constellations were then time-stamped to mark the moment they were discovered, a project spokesperson told Space.com in an email.
Clicking on each node of each constellation reveals information about the debris object that makes up the node, including its size range, name, and estimated cost to remove it from orbit.
The constellations were chosen to highlight the most devastating effects of the space debris problem. For example, the broken compass spotted over Bermuda in January 2023 points to the damage that space junk could do to global positioning and navigation satellites, such as the US GPS or Europe’s Galileo systems, if it were to hit them.
Likewise, The Great 404 — filmed over West Africa in February 2023 — signifies the aftermath of the destruction of Internet broadcast satellites that connect isolated communities around the world. Unavailable Forecast, captured over India in April 2023, is symbolic of the uncertainty the world will face if it loses its weather satellites. A total of ten constellations make up the collection.
“There are some internationally agreed guidelines for cleanup and debris prevention, but none of these mechanisms are enforceable,” Moriba Jha, Privateer’s chief scientist, said in the statement. “If we don’t change our behavior, space will become unusable.”
There are currently more than 160 million pieces of man-made space debris orbiting Earth. These objects range from entire old satellites and spent rocket stages to small fragments resulting from collisions between larger objects. With the growing number of satellites in orbit, spurred by the advent of small satellites and Internet-broadcasting constellations like SpaceX’s Starlink, the risk of orbital collisions has skyrocketed.
While satellites can maneuver using thrusters and avoid collisions, the bigger problem is that the positions and trajectories of smaller debris are unknown, and their impacts often come as a complete surprise.
Experts worry that without preventative measures – such as removing larger pieces of debris – space around Earth could become completely unusable. The increasing frequency of collisions could lead to a situation known as Kessler syndrome, first predicted by former NASA physicist Donald Kessler in the late 1970s. Kessler syndrome is essentially an unstoppable cascade of collisions, where fragments from each new collision cause additional impacts, producing more fragments and more collisions.
