junkyard

There is a lot of talk about space debris in orbitespecially in low Earth orbit. However, debris resulting from human activity in space is not just floating beyond our planet. Some are found abandoned on the surface of planets, satellites or asteroids. The two largest cemeteries in the solar system are the Moon, where more than 70 objects have passed “on to a better life,” or Mars, where there are 17 landers, rovers and some helicopter destroyed or out of service. These space scrapyards will likely increase over the years. There may come a time when it will be necessary to recycle these materials to continue advancing in space. There are already some projects, but also a lot of legislation that can stop them. The largest cemetery in the Solar System. The Moon houses more than 70 space objects that have landed there in 4 different ways: a deliberate impact, an accidental collision, a controlled deorbitation or a soft and safe landing. Logically, this includes only ships or rovers. They do not count, for example golf balls nor the flags. If we count that, the figure would rise a lot. Some examples. In the group of deliberate collisions we find Moon 2a Soviet ship that hit our satellite on September 13, 1959. It had two objectives. On the one hand, demonstrate that you can reach the Moon. On the other hand, analyze its magnetic fields and radiation. He did this just before impact, while displaying a flag of the Soviet Union. Regarding accidental collisions, we have the Surveyor 2from NASA, which on September 23, 1966 lost control after one of its 3 thrusters did not ignite when it should. In the third group is Lunar Orbiter 1. It was sent by NASA to take photographs and search for sites for the Surveyor and Apollo missions. However, on October 29, 1966, after verifying that it was no longer working properly, the project engineers decided to deorbit it and land it on the Moon. For the last group we have many examples; but, speaking of the most pioneering, on February 3, 1966, the Moon 9 of the USSR made the first soft landing in history. And there it remains, like all of them. viking 1 A scrapyard on Mars. There are many fewer objects on Mars than on the Moon, but little by little there will be more. Currently there are landers from missions that have failed, like Mars 2which crashed in 1971, or who after carrying out their mission successfully have remained there to spend their retirement. This is the case of Viking 1whose lander was in operation from 1976 to 1982. There are also rovers in operation, such as Perseveranceor out of order, as Spirit, Opportunity either Zhurong. There are even some helicopters retired from their duties, such as Ingenuity. In the future there may be more of these objects. For example, NASA recently declared the MAVEN probe lost, which after 11 years It has moved to another orbit from which it can no longer be controlled. It is estimated that the Martian atmosphere will slow it down little by little and that it will end up landing on the red planet within 50 to 100 years. Space recycling is the future. Every extra gram brought aboard a spacecraft counts. Although no permanent base has yet been installed on the Moon, much less on Mars, there are already many scientists exploring ways to exploit its resources. and those around them. Thus, so many materials would not have to be carried from Earth. Therefore, it is not unusual that there are also projects in which recycling is explored of the ships of these space cemeteries. There are even plans to take space debris that is still in orbit and take it to the lunar surface to recycle the materials. Be careful with the legislation. The problem is that, perhaps, one country could not recycle the materials of another. For example, Russia (in the absence of the USSR) could recycle the remains of Luna 2, but not those of Surveyor 2. On the contrary, exactly the same thing would happen. This is due to the United Nations treaty which establishes that “the State in whose registry an object launched into outer space is transported shall maintain jurisdiction and control over said object, and over any person found on it, while it is in outer space.” This would leave some countries at a great disadvantage. For example, while China is advancing at a good pace on its path to the Moon, the reality is that it only has 4 spacecraft in the lunar graveyard, compared to the United States’ 8. Perhaps in the future, when the need arises, certain agreements can be reached, but today that is the legislation. We will have to see how it evolves. Images | Magnific/Unsplash | POT In Xataka | Ingenuity helicopter breaks down on Mars after 72 flights. A photo reveals the damage to one of its blades