The European space Agency warned of the impending disaster

Amount of space debris close to the critical point, warned the European space Agency (ESA). According to the Agency, the Earth's orbit are more than 34 thousands of objects created by humans, but there are no international agreements that would oblige owners of the devices to return them to the Earth.

Experts warn that if immediately not to proceed with garbage collection, the middle space will soon become unsuitable for practical use. The destruction of objects does not solve the problem, and will result in an even greater number of fragments of smaller size.

the scale of the problem increases with the advent of projects such as Starlink Elon musk aimed to create cheap and fast Internet. Only in 2019 SpaceX launched 122 satellite Starlink, and in the coming years their number should increase to 12 thousand.

"Imagine how dangerous it would be swimming in the open sea if all the lost ships were still drifting on the surface. This is what is happening now in orbit, and it is impossible to prevent the continuation of this situation", - said Director General of ESA, Johann-Dietrich wörner.

the Main rule in space - there are no rules

International law regulating the traffic in space does not exist.

"From a legal point of view in space full free. Any country has the right to do almost whatever he wants," said Euronews security specialist ESA's Holger Krag.

According to him, the emergence of international law in this area in the near future "will not happen", but positive developments still exist.

"Today it is possible to inform about the location of your property and what they plan to do. That's what's available today," - said the expert.

On the earth's orbit are about two thousand active and three thousand non-performing satellites. In addition, around our planet revolve missiles and other objects. Today the main control center of possible collisions in space - a Network of space-based observations United States air force.

According to Krag, it is important for satellite operators, but it has serious flaws.

"She was created to protect US, not to track tiny objects flying at a speed of 40,000 km/h. It is, first and foremost, the military system so she doesn't need such accuracy," - says the expert.

Lack of reliability of the network of space observation leads to frequent false alarms that cost time, money, and additional pay.

"We need coordination, and it needs to be automated. We can't wait for the UN will create a Central traffic control system, we need a pragmatic solution for the work already carried out above", - said Krag.

Return of the garbage on the Ground

Today, experts propose to develop methods of returning the space debris to Earth. This is not an easy task because you have to work with tiny objects that do not emit no light, no signal traveling at the speed of 25,000 km/hour on a random orbit. At this speed, the smallest piece can cause irreparable damage. Moreover, the system must be economically efficient because it is necessary to remove tens of thousands of objects.

In 2025 Swiss ClearSpace has performed the first operation for removal of space debris. The first facility will be a satellite of ESA VESPA. Four of the robot "grab" it and pull into the atmosphere where it will disintegrate.

"we are talking about the tentacles that the time surrounding the object. This is a very important point, because if you touch the object with one hand, he will immediately escape into space," says Krag.

Another solution to clean the orbit is to use the Earth's magnetic fields or plasma rocket engines. In addition to removal of unnecessary objects also the possibility of return of future devices after use.

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