Currently 2.8 days to a low orbit collision disaster according to a new CRASH clock

Bad news! Is the low orbit space becoming overcrowded? Then there is already all the existing space junk floating. Questions like this were frequently raised during the past several decades. Like questions about space junk.

I have just blogged here about the debris dangers to air traffic caused by the recent explosion of the SpaceX Starship.

Recent news suggest there are plans to build data centers in space and so on.

"... Calculations show that, across all low-Earth orbit mega-constellations, a "close approach," defined as two satellites passing by each at less than 1km separation, occurs every 22 seconds. For Starlink alone, that number is once every 11 minutes. Another known metric of Starlink is that, on average, each of the thousands of satellites have to perform 41 maneuvers per year to avoid running into other objects in their orbit. ..."

From the abstract:

"The number of objects in orbit is rapidly increasing, primarily driven by the launch of megaconstellations, an approach to satellite constellation design that involves large numbers of satellites paired with their rapid launch and disposal. While satellites provide many benefits to society, their use comes with challenges, including the growth of space debris, collisions, ground casualty risks, optical and radio-spectrum pollution, and the alteration of Earth's upper atmosphere through rocket emissions and reentry ablation.
There is substantial potential for current or planned actions in orbit to cause serious degradation of the orbital environment or lead to catastrophic outcomes, highlighting the urgent need to find better ways to quantify stress on the orbital environment.

Here we propose a new metric, the CRASH Clock, that measures such stress in terms of the time it takes for a catastrophic collision to occur if there are no collision avoidance manoeuvres or there is a severe loss in situational awareness. Our calculations show the CRASH Clock is currently 2.8 days, which suggests there is now little time to recover from a wide-spread disruptive event, such as a solar storm. This is in stark contrast to the pre-megaconstellation era: in 2018, the CRASH Clock was 121 days."

2.8 days to disaster: Why we are running out of time in low earth orbit

An Orbital House of Cards: Frequent Megaconstellation Close Conjunctions (open access)

RSO = resident space object

Kayhan Space is making orbit safer with timely, automatic collision warnings for satellites

With over 3,000 satellites and counting plus thousands of pieces of space junk all the in low orbit you need automated collision and traffic control!

"... Space may seem like a big place, but low Earth orbit is actually pretty crowded, relatively speaking. With thousands of satellites zooming around on all kinds of trajectories, and tens of thousands of pieces of space junk as well, the chances your spacecraft will have to juke a bit to avoid a screw going 20,000 mph or so are getting higher. When orbits overlap to the point that a collision is possible, it’s called a “conjunction” — a more neutral term than “collision course,” certainly. ..."

Kayhan Space is making orbit safer with timely, automatic collision warnings for satellites | TechCrunch

Mosquitoes inspired collision-avoidance sensory system for drones

Very recommendable! What can we learn from mosquitos? 



"Their research, published in Science, demonstrates how the mosquito avoids obstacles in the dark by sensing changes in the airflows generated by its flapping wings."



University of Leeds | News > Science > Can mosquitoes stop us going bump in the night? Scientists have used the principles that guide a mosquito’s nocturnal flight to develop a quadcopter equipped with an elegant collision-avoidance sensory system.