An artistic interpretation of cluttered Earth orbits
Tens of millions of pieces of space debris currently orbit Earth – discarded rocket engines, outdated satellites, and the fragments remaining after explosions and collisions.
All this clutter poses a threat to manned space missions, as even a small piece of debris can seriously damage a spacecraft. And while most debris will burn up in Earth’s atmosphere, larger objects could fall to the ground intact, threatening lives.
That is why Russia’s space corporation, Energia, is going to invest $2 billion to build a space pod to fly around and knock the junk out of orbit and out of our way.
Not getting enough rays these days? Never fear: engineers may be on the brink of creating our own miniature star.
While solar power is a key part of the global clean energy strategy, scientists are pursuing other, perhaps more promising, methods to produce fuel sources. One such possibility is the recreation of fusion, a powerful nuclear reaction that only occurs naturally on the blazing surfaces of stars.
