Video: UFO Monitors Shuttle at Space Station Debunked?

Yesterday I posted a video that some believe shows UFOs monitoring the docking of space shuttle Endeavour at the International Space Station (ISS). It’s led to some pretty lively commentary from readers.

Here’s my personal opinion:the blinking lights are simply space debris. Space debris, as shown in the photo above, has turned near space into basically an orbiting junkyard. Space station crews have had to maneuver the orbiting outpost to avoid debris collison.

Space Shuttle Endeavour and the STS-126 crew, now enroute home, had to delay their journey for several hours in order to avoid the possibility of a collision with some space debris. NASA tracks space junk, and a critical part of mission planning and safety is to keep vehicles out of danger.

From the start of the shuttle program through apprxomiately the end of 2007, workers have had to replace at least 80 windows on space shuttles. The Hubble Space Telescope has been hit, too.

Space debris can be as small as a paint fleck. or as large as a defunct satellite. Experts say that up to 50 per cent of the debris orbiting Earth has been caused by explosions or the collision of pieces of debris, which then create more fragments of debris.

Each piece of debris orbits, and has its own velocity. The velocity makes each one either a speeding bullet or a speeding sledge hammer.

The situation is so serious, according to David Wright of Concerned Scientists, that:

International efforts are under way to control the production of debris from routine space activity. In the mid-1990s the US developed and released a set of debris-mitigation guidelines; subsequently other countries developed similar national guidelines. In 2002 the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee adopted a consensus set of guidelines, and in June 2007 the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) adopted a set of mitigation guidelines based on the IADC guidelines. To reduce the production of debris in space, all the guidelines call for measures such as designing satellites and rocket stages to limit the release of mission-related debris and depleting propellant from nonoperational satellites or stages to reduce the risk of explosions. By calling for spent stages and satellites to be removed from orbit, the guidelines also attempt to control the number of large objects in space that could break up due to collisions. Unfortunately, the guidelines are not legally binding.

The situation was drastically worsened in 2007 when China decided to test space-capable weapons by blasting apart one of its own satellites. The ASAT kinetic-energy test has been widely criticized because of the proliferation of fragments in near space.

NASA consultant Donald J. Kessler posited what has now become known as the Kessler Syndrome:

The Kessler Syndrome is a scenario, proposed by NASA consultant Donald J. Kessler, in which the volume of space debris in Low Earth Orbit is so high that objects in orbit are frequently struck by debris, creating even more debris and a greater risk of further impacts. The implication of this scenario is that the escalating amount of debris in orbit could eventually render space exploration, and even the use of satellites, too prone to loss to be feasible for many generations.

Given how close those blinking objects seemed to be, and the fact that Endeavour had to wait for a clear path home, I think that the UFO or UFO’s seen by some are just litter along the space highways.

What do you think?

Image courtesy of the European Space Operations Centre/artist’s impression.

For more info: STS-126 astronaut accidentally adds to space debris (video)

NASA’s Orbital Debris Quarterly News
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