There is a lot of talk about space debris in orbit, especially in low Earth orbit. However, debris resulting from human activity in space is not just floating beyond our planet. Some are found abandoned on the surface of planets, satellites or asteroids. The two largest cemeteries in the solar system are the Moon, where more than 70 objects have passed away “to a better life,” or Mars, where there are 17 landers, rovers and some helicopters destroyed or out of service.
These space scrapyards will likely increase over the years. There may come a time when it will be necessary to recycle these materials to continue advancing in space. There are already some projects, but also a lot of legislation that can stop them.
The largest cemetery in the Solar System. The Moon is home to more than 70 space objects that have landed there in 4 different ways: a deliberate impact, an accidental collision, a controlled deorbitation or a safe and soft landing. Logically, this includes only ships or rovers. For example, golf balls or flags do not count. If we count that, the figure would rise a lot.
Some examples. In the group of deliberate collisions we find Luna 2, a Soviet ship that hit our satellite on September 13, 1959. It had two objectives. On the one hand, demonstrate that you can reach the Moon. On the other hand, analyze its magnetic fields and radiation. He did this just before impact, while displaying a flag of the Soviet Union. Regarding accidental collisions, we have NASA’s Surveyor 2, which on September 23, 1966 lost control after one of its 3 thrusters did not ignite when it should.
In the third group is Lunar Orbiter 1. It was sent by NASA to take photographs and search for sites for the Surveyor and Apollo missions. However, on October 29, 1966, after verifying that it was no longer working properly, the project engineers decided to deorbit it and land it on the Moon. For the last group we have many examples; But, speaking of the most pioneering, on February 3, 1966, the USSR’s Luna 9 made the first soft landing in history. And there it remains, like all of them.
Viking 1
A scrapyard on Mars. There are many fewer objects on Mars than on the Moon, but little by little there will be more. Currently there are landers from missions that have failed, such as Mars 2, which crashed in 1971, or that after carrying out their mission successfully have remained there to spend their retirement. This is the case of Viking 1, whose lander was in operation from 1976 to 1982. There are also rovers in operation, such as Perseverance, or out of service, such as Spirit, Opportunity or Zhurong. There are even some helicopters retired from their functions, such as Ingenuity.
In the future there may be more of these objects. For example, NASA recently declared the MAVEN probe lost, which after 11 years has moved to another orbit from which it can no longer be controlled. It is estimated that the Martian atmosphere will slow it down little by little and that it will end up landing on the red planet within 50 to 100 years.
Space recycling is the future. Every extra gram brought aboard a spacecraft counts. Although no permanent base has yet been installed on the Moon, much less on Mars, there are already many scientists exploring ways to exploit its resources and those around it. Thus, so many materials would not have to be carried from Earth. Therefore, it is not unusual that there are also projects that explore the recycling of ships from these space cemeteries. There are even plans to take space debris that is still in orbit and take it to the lunar surface to recycle the materials.
Be careful with the legislation. The problem is that, perhaps, one country could not recycle the materials of another. For example, Russia (in the absence of the USSR) could recycle the remains of Luna 2, but not those of Surveyor 2. On the contrary, exactly the same thing would happen. This is due to the United Nations treaty which states that “the State under whose registry an object launched into outer space is transported shall maintain jurisdiction and control over that object, and over any person on it, while it is in outer space.”
This would leave some countries at a great disadvantage. For example, while China is advancing at a good pace on its path to the Moon, the reality is that it only has 4 spacecraft in the lunar graveyard, compared to the United States’ 8. Perhaps in the future, when the need arises, certain agreements can be reached, but today that is the legislation. We will have to see how it evolves.
Images | Magnific/Unsplash | POT
In | Ingenuity helicopter breaks down on Mars after 72 flights. A photo reveals the damage to one of its blades
