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Canadian satellites to help combat threat of collisions in Earth orbit

More than 20,000 satellites and debris are in orbit around Earth

Nicole Mortillaro · CBC News ·

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There are thousands of satellites in orbit around Earth, both operational and defunct, and even more space debris. Montreal-based NorthStar plans to launch the first commercial constellation — a collection of satellites — to track and reduce the threat of the collision of objects in space. (NorthStar Earth & Space)

Humans produce a lot of garbage here on Earth. It turns out we produce a lot of it in space, too.

An estimated 20,000-plus satellites and pieces of debris are orbiting Earth. These satellites can be operational or defunct, and the debris is left over from the thousands of spent rocket stages or the result of collisions that have produced smaller pieces.

It’s these collisions that are of particular concern, especially with more and more private companies and countries launching satellites into space.

While this may not sound like something that poses a threat to our daily life, the fact is that it could disrupt it in many ways, with the two main threats being to the lives of astronauts in space, as well as the threat to the satellites we depend on each day.

One Canadian company wants to decrease the chance of these collisions.

On Tuesday, Montreal-based NorthStar Earth & Space announced that in 2022 it plans to launch the first commercial constellation — a collection of satellites — to reduce the threat of the collision of objects in space. Thales Alenia Space will build the first three satellites in the Skylark constellation with Seattle’s LeoStella, overseeing the final assembly.

This illustration shows how NorthStar’s constellation will track satellites in Earth orbit. (NorthStar Earth & Space)

“People tend to forget that today, we actually depend on spaceflight. When you look at your smartphone, 40 per cent of the apps they have, they rely to some degree on data from space — let it be the weather forecast, let it be the navigation app that relies on GPS satellites, TV broadcasting and sometimes the phone connection itself” said Holger Krag, head of the European Space Agency’s Space Debris Office in Darmstadt, Germany.

“They all go via satellite. So if we don’t have satellites, we will quickly realize what is missing.”

According to the European Space Agency (ESA), over the past 20 years, there have been roughly 12 accidental breakups annually in low-Earth orbit.

While current technology relies mostly on ground-based telescopes to track potentially dangerous space debris and satellites, NorthStar will have satellites equipped with telescopes in orbit around Earth, bringing the accuracy of tracking within metres.

“We’ve got the International Space Station up there. We’ve got astronauts going back and forth. We’ve got stuff flying around from a bunch of satellites and constellations,” said Stewart Bain, NorthStar’s CEO. “You want to make sure you know where things are with metre precision, not kilometre precision.”

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