Populasi serpihan angkasa dilihat dari luar orbit geosinkron (GEO). Ada dua medan serpihan utama, yaitu cincin objek di GEO dan awan objek di orbit bumi rendah (LEO).
Sindrom Kessler (juga disebut efek Kessler,collisional cascading, atau ablation cascade), dipaparkan oleh ilmuwan NASA Donald J. Kessler tahun 1978, adalah skenario ketika kepadatan objek di orbit bumi rendah (LEO) begitu tinggi sampai-sampai tabrakan antarobjek bisa memunculkan kaskade, artinya setiap tabrakan menghasilkan serpihan angkasa yang meningkatkan kemungkinan adanya tabrakan lain. Salah satu dampaknya adalah persebaran serpihan di orbit dapat mengakibatkan penjelajahan luar angkasa, bahkan pemakaian satelit, mustahil dilakukan selama beberapa generasi umat manusia.
Lihat pula
- Uji rudal anti-satelit Cina 2007
- Tabrakan satelit 2009
- Orbit sampah
- Sapu laser
- P78-1
- SNAP-10A
- Serpihan angkasa
- Space Liability Convention
Bacaan lanjutan
- Kessler, D (2009). "The Kessler Syndrome (As Discussed by Donald J. Kessler)". Diarsipkan dari versi asli tanggal 2010-05-27. Diakses tanggal 2010-05-26.
- An article in the July 2009 issue of Popular Mechanics by Glenn Harlan Reynolds discusses the Kessler Syndrome in regards to the February, 2009 satellite collision and how international law may need to address the problem to help prevent future incidents: Reynolds, G. H. (2009, July). Collision course. Popular Mechanics, p. 50-52.
- Kessler was featured in an article named, "The Looming Space Junk Crisis: It’s Time to Take Out the Trash," which appeared in the June 2010 issue of Wired Magazine.
Pranala luar
- Don Kessler's Web Page Diarsipkan 2007-09-26 di Wayback Machine.
- APOD – Satellites Collide in Low Earth Orbit
- Mathematical Modeling of debris flux Diarsipkan 2019-02-28 di Wayback Machine.
- New York Times: Orbiting Junk, Once a Nuisance, Is Now a Threat
- Wired: Houston we have a trash problem
- Schwartz, Evan I. (May 24, 2010). "The Looming Space Junk Crisis: It's Time to Take Out the Trash". Wired. Diakses tanggal 14 June 2010.
- Debris Spews Into Space After Satellites Collide
- aggregated public information research on space debris, graveyard orbits etc
- Associated Press: "Space junk littering orbit; might need cleaning up" (1 September 2011)