Earth might develop junk rings but engineers are working to prevent that – ZME Science

Earth may one day have its own ring system one made from space junk.

Whenever there are humans, pollution seems to follow. Our planets orbit doesnt seem to be an exception. However, not all is lost yet! Research at the University of Utah is exploring novel ideas for how to clear the build-up before it can cause more trouble for space-faring vessels and their crews.

Their idea involves using a magnetic tractor beam to capture and remove debris orbiting the Earth.

Earth is on course to have its own rings, says University of Utah professor of mechanical engineering Jake Abbott, corresponding author of the study, for the Salt Lake Tribune. Theyll just be made of space junk.

The Earth is on its way to becoming the fifth planet in the Solar System to gain planetary rings. However, unlike the rock-and-ice rings of Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus, Earths rings will be made of scrap and junk. It would also be wholly human-made.

According to NASAs Orbital Debris Program Office, there are an estimated 23,000 pieces of orbital debris larger than a softball; these are joined by a few hundreds of millions of pieces smaller than a softball. These travel at speeds of 17,500 mph (28,160 km/h), and pose an immense threat to satellites, space travel, and hamper research efforts.

Because of their high speeds, removing these pieces of space debris is very risky and hard to pull off.

Most of that junk is spinning, Abbott added. Reach out to stop it with a robotic arm, youll break the arm and create more debris.

A small part of this debris around 200 to 400 burns out in the Earths atmosphere every year. However, fresh pieces make their way into orbit as the planets orbit is increasingly used and traversed. Plans by private entities to launch thousands of new satellites in the coming years will only make the problem worse.

Abbotts team proposes using a magnetic device to capture or pull debris down into low orbit, where they will eventually burn up in the Earths atmosphere.

Weve basically created the worlds first tractor beam, he told Salt Lake Tribune. Its just a question of engineering now. Building and launching it.

The paper Dexterous magnetic manipulation of conductive non-magnetic objects has been published in the journal Nature.

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Earth might develop junk rings but engineers are working to prevent that - ZME Science