Last Saturday, the International Space Station (ISS) performed a reboost maneuver to avoid a possible collision with pieces of an exploding Russian military satellite.
The debris appeared on November 15, 2021, when Russia destroyed its own military satellite, Cosmos 1408. The satellite, which was launched in 1982, was destroyed by a ground missile.
Cosmos 1408 created quite a bit of space junk when it was destroyed, considering its weight of 2,200 kilograms. In the end, this debris will indeed slow down and burn. But the process can take more than a decade.
One concern about the debris is that this space debris could cause the Kessler Effect or Kessler Syndrome. Simply put, the Kessler Effect is where one event (such as a satellite explosion) in low Earth orbit creates a chain reaction, as debris destroys another satellite in orbit.
If this happens, the debris may continue to collide with other satellites or other debris, potentially causing communication problems and rendering areas of space inaccessible to spacecraft.
The worst thing about the existence of more and more space debris is, they can trap us on Earth so we can't go anywhere.
The US recently announced it would no longer conduct anti-satellite missile tests due to space debris concerns. They urged other countries to follow suit.
Fortunately, the reboost maneuver performed last week seems to have worked. The ISS's first space tourists can begin their return journey back to Earth on Sunday.