Professor talks about fears of disaster due to space debris in Earth's orbit

Scientists are afraid of disaster because of space debris in Earth's orbit. This was told on December 27 by Professor Vishnu Reddy of the University of Arizona(USA) in a conversation with CNN.

"The number of objects in space that we have launched in the last four years has increased exponentially," he said.

He said the fear is of a Kessler syndrome scenario, in which debris in space sets off a chain reaction: one explosion ejects a plume of fragments, which in turn crash into other space objects, creating even more debris.

"The situation we have always feared is coming," he noted.

It is specified that the cascading effect may continue until the Earth's orbit is so clogged with debris that satellites become inoperable and space exploration will have to come to a complete halt.

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Earlier, on October 22, in "Roscosmos" told about the danger of debris from the destroyed satellite Intelsat-33e. Scientists have analyzed the trajectory of the fragments and found that the destruction of the satellite had a "one-stage and high-energy character". Now astronomers are looking for other objects of "space debris", which will later be included in the calculations of dangerous approaches.

Before that, on October 12, the head of Roscosmos Yuri Borisov said that the reasons for the increase in the frequency of abnormal situations on the International Space Station (ISS) are the age of the station and debris in Earth orbit. He noted that space debris requires constant monitoring and elimination.