A new report from Europe raises serious alarms about orbital collisions
The 2013 sci-fi blockbuster film Gravity , starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, popularized the notion of the Kessler syndrome.
In the movie, Russia shoots down a defunct satellite and creates a cloud of debris, leading to serious tension in orbit.
The movie is fantastic, a true thriller, and while some liberties were taken with the depiction of outer space, the basic premise of a cascading series of collisions rendering orbits too cluttered with debris to be usable is valid.
The idea was first proposed by NASA scientists Donald Kessler and Burton Cour-Palais nearly half a century ago.
Still, the movie was science fiction, right? Read full article Comments
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