Scientists estimate that there are more than 20 thousand satellites and debris in Earth's orbit. Some of these satellites
Therefore, NorthStar Earth & Space fromMontreal said it will launch the first commercial network of satellites in 2022 to reduce the threat of object collisions in space. Thales Alenia Space will build the first three satellites.
“People tend to forget that today wereally addicted to space travel. When you look at your smartphone, 40% of the applications that we have rely on data from space - this is the weather forecast, navigation, and sometimes the telephone itself. "
press release NorthStar Earth & Space
According to the European Space Agency(ESA), over the past 20 years, there have been about 12 accidents annually due to space debris in low-Earth orbit. While current technology relies on ground-based telescopes to track potentially dangerous space debris and satellites, NorthStar will have satellites that equipped with telescopes in orbit around the Earth, as a result of which the accuracy will increase significantly.
Scientists added that ground-based telescopes are wrongare accurate and may not work due to adverse weather conditions. The NorthStar satellites are a good step towards getting more accurate information on how close satellites and space debris are to each other.
Formerly International Space Station(ISS) evaded a collision with unknown space debris. Shortly before this, a source at the Mission Control Center in Moscow reported that a dangerous approach of the ISS with an unidentified space object is predicted, and therefore an evasive maneuver of the station is planned.
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