Could Space Junk Collision Cause Political Conflict?

Space junk collision could trigger World War III, scientists have warned.

16:49 26 January 2016

Scientists believe that World War III can be triggered by space junk collision. They said that if an abandoned satellite, a rocket body, or another piece of space debris accidentally collides with a military satellite and knock it out of action, it could be interpreted as an act of political aggression.

 

The warning comes after China shot down one of its old weather satellites in 2007, which created around 3,000 pieces of space debris. After several years, some of this debris collided with a Russian satellite, knocking it out of action.

 

Vitaly Adushkin at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, said: "The owner of the impacted and destroyed satellite can hardly quickly determine the real cause of the accident.”

 

Scientists at the University College London recently conducted a study about the growth in space debris between 1957 and 2015. The first ever piece of space debris was the body of the rocket used to launch Sputnik, the first artificial Earth satellite in 1957. Since then, the space has been filled with thousands of abandoned satellites, rocket bodies, and other debris from the launch of numerous space missions.