Donald J. Kessler

We are projected to have 100,000 active satellites up there by 2040

Kessler Syndrome, proposed by NASA scientist Donald Kessler in 1978, outlines a disastrous mathematical chain reaction.

You have to understand the physics of orbit.

These objects aren't just floating lazily.

Sometimes they stay in orbit around the Earth.

We'll explore the consequences of polluting our upper stratosphere, including what the Kessler effect is, as well as discover who is currently responsible for all the trash in space and what's the plan for cleaning it up.

This episode has activities and vocabulary in our learning guide.

Find it all at childrenshour.org. Just look for space junk.

We have the capacity to harm it and our capacity to harm it has an impact on what satellites can do for us, all the good things that they can do.

Most people would be used to using their phones to find out where they are, get weather information, look up the internet.

All of that could be gone if If what they call the Kessler syndrome happens, a series of collisions that once they start, they don't stop.

Something collides with something, it breaks into thousands of pieces.

Right.

And then they talk about some of the biomimicry solutions scientists are working on to clean it up.

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Yeah, let's listen.

You better believe it, Guy Raz.

So then why don't we just invent like a, like a giant space net for them?

Well, scientists have actually thought of that, but it wouldn't work because it would be so hard to capture all of that junk and keep it from floating out of the net.

And of course I guess a vacuum cleaner wouldn't work because it needs the air pressure here on Earth to suck things in.

are really worried about is the potential chain reaction that a space collision could begin.

Enter the Kessler syndrome.

I truly believe that in 50 years we're going to be in what's known as Kessler syndrome.

So Kessler in 1978 was a NASA engineer, came up with what essentially I'll call a prediction now, that objects will be colliding with other objects, they create more objects, and we get to a point where the probability of collision is going to be so great that we can't use that orbit anymore.

I'm particularly worried about low Earth orbit a couple hundred miles up or so.

And if we continue to do what we're doing and not fix this problem, I think in 50 years we're going to be in a lot of trouble.

Astronomer Sam

Lawler told me that the phenomenon that Donald Kessler predicted might already have begun.