How much of a risk is space junk?

BBC Inside Science

BBC

Technology, Science

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 29 August 2024

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Space junk.

It might sound like an out-of-this-world problem that we don’t need to worry about here on Earth – but is it?

As we send more and more metal in the form of satellites up into space, scientists are warning it is becoming more of a risk both here – and up there.

We dig into the problem and what’s being done to clean it up.

Also this week, we answer a listener question about oceans and their influence on global temperatures, and we ponder the use – and sometimes abuse – of scientific language.

And with the Paris Olympics well under way, how much does sex affect sporting performance?

Presenter: Victoria Gill Producers: Ella Hubber & Gerry Holt Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

Transcript

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0:00.0	How did the richest people on the planet make their fortunes?
0:05.0	I'm Simon Jack and I'm Zing Singh.
0:08.0	Join us for good bad billionaire.
0:09.0	Each episode we pick a billionaire and we find out how they made their money like the comedian Jerry
0:14.5	Seinfeld the financier George Soros the golf star Tiger Woods then Simon and I
0:19.6	have a decision to make do we think they are good, bad or just another billionaire?
0:24.3	Good bad billionaire. Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:27.8	BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts.
0:34.0	Hello and welcome to BBC Inside Science with me, Victoria Gill.
0:38.0	This week we will be answering one of our lovely curious-minded listeners questions about the ocean.
0:44.0	And to do it or not to do it, we're asking if sex before sport could affect your chances of a
0:49.5	medal-winning performance.
0:51.3	We'll also be taking a quantum leap into a financial black hole.
0:55.0	But first, do we need to start cleaning up the mess we've made in orbit?
1:00.0	There are some alarming messages in the European Space Agency's latest report on this issue.
1:06.0	With more satellites and spacecraft launched last year than ever before,
1:10.0	nearly 3,000 in total, the agency said their path around the Earth is getting crowded.
1:15.9	And between now and 2030, the plan is to launch around another 60,000, further adding to
1:21.3	this orbital congestion.
1:23.0	Some of that junk could even threaten people on Earth,
1:26.0	as I found out when I dug into this with Jason Fourshaw,
1:30.0	an engineer from the Space Sustainability Company Astro scale and astronomer Samantha Lula who told me about an extraordinary
	...

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