Space Invaders

I’m more ‘spatially aware’ these days...a car accident can do that to you, as I found out the hard way last November. It was nothing serious, mind, but enough of a dodgem-car style bump, grind and jolt to now give me the heebie-jeebies every time another car drifts too-close-for-comfort in a tight roundabout. Always a fairly cautious driver, I am definitely more inclined to ‘let the other dude go first’ nowadays....respect the safety gap!

There do, however, seem to be a lot of things crashing into each other lately. On Monday this week, it was reported that two nuclear-armed submarines from Britain and France collided while on separate patrols in the Atlantic Ocean. Analysts said a major disaster could have resulted had the underwater collision ruptured the hulls, set off conventional ammunition or started a fire, although the chances of a full nuclear explosion were virtually nil. But, thankfully, there were no injuries or radioactive leaks....just some rather red-faced British and French officials, who have so far failed to explain how two sophisticated vessels from allied nations could collide in open water.

And, last week, the US commercial Iridium spacecraft and a defunct Russian communications satellite collided in space over Siberia, in what is thought to be the biggest incident of its kind to date. The impact produced a cloud of debris, which will be tracked into the future. It is hoped that most of the debris will fall to Earth and burn up in the atmosphere. The risk to the International Space Station, which is orbiting the Earth some 435 km below the course of the collision is said to be low.




Since the Soviets launched Sputnik in 1957, it is estimated about 6,000 satellites have been put in orbit. There are about 17,000 man-made objects above 10 cm in size that orbit Earth - and the tally is constantly increasing. This in turn raises the risk of collisions between objects. Intact satellites share Earth's orbit with everything from spent rocket stages and spacecraft wreckage to paint flakes and dust. The diffuse mist of junk around our planet is the legacy of 51 years of human activity in space.



Speaking of objects sharing our planet’s orbit, on Friday April 13, 2029, the ‘Apophis’ asteroid (originally designated 2004 MN4) will fly its nearest to Earth, a mere 30,000 km above the ground - for comparison, geosynchronous satellites orbit at 36,000 km. At closest approach, the asteroid will shine like a third magnitude star, visible to the unaided eye from Africa, Europe and Asia, even through city lights. This is rare....close approaches by objects as large as ‘Apophis’ are currently thought to occur at 1000 year intervals, on average. No one in recorded history has ever seen an asteroid in space so bright.


Back in December 2004, astronomers considered there was an ‘unprecedented level of risk’ – a 1-in-45 chance - of ‘Apophis’ striking the planet. In Egyptian myth, ‘Apophis’ was the ancient spirit of evil and destruction, a demon that was determined to plunge the world into eternal darkness. A fitting name, astronomers reasoned, for a menace that was hurtling towards Earth from outer space. NASA had estimated that an impact from ‘Apophis’ would release more than 100,000 times the energy released in the nuclear blast over Hiroshima. Thousands of square kilometres would be directly affected by the blast but the whole of the Earth would see the effects of the dust released into the atmosphere. Thankfully, however, additional observations soon ruled out a direct collision... phew! It’s predicted the asteroid's trajectory will bend approximately 28 degrees during the encounter, a result of Earth's gravitational pull. What happens next is uncertain....some predicted ‘Apophis’ might swing around and hit Earth after all in 2035....but these reports were quickly dismissed by astronomers, who calculate that the probability for that encounter as 1 in 12.3 million.

Let’s hope they’ve got their calculations right....I’d rather leave sleeping satellites (planets) lie..........

"Sleeping Satellite" by Tasmin ArcherChorus
I blame you for the moonlit sky
and the dream that died
with the eagles' flight
I blame you for the moonlit nights
when I wonder why
are the seas still dry?
don't blame this sleeping satellite

Did we fly to the moon too soon
did we squander the chance
in the rush of the race
the reason we chase is lost in romance
and still we try
to justify the waste
for a taste of man's greatest adventure

have we lost what it takes to advance?
have we peaked too soon?
if the world is so green
then why does it scream under a blue moon
we wonder why
If the earth's sacrificed
for the price of it's greatest treasure

and when we shoot for the stars
what a giant step
have we got what it takes
to carry the weight of this concept
or pass it by like a shot in the dark
miss the mark with a sense of adventure