Quite a long time ago I read about the crowding of positions for satellites with geocentric orbits.That position is required to orbit the Earth as fast the Earth rotates. That placement is necessary for many modern day luxuries like radio, and television, GPS. They come to first to mind.
Help may be on the way.
Not from any genius of mankind, but a natural vacuum cleaner.
Sun Drags Space Junk Out of Earth Orbit
Now for once, there is good coming from this bad news.
Ever since mankind launched the first rocket into space, we've left trash floating aimlessly in low-Earth orbit. Today, 55 years after the launch of the Soviet Sputnik 1 (the worlds first artificial satellite), we are fast approaching an untenable situation.
The space junk problem is reaching epidemic proportions where it may soon become impossible to launch spacecraft without them being damaged or destroyed by an errant chunk of Space Age trash -- a situation known as "Kessler Syndrome." You can forget a manned mission to Mars, we won't be able to leave our own cosmic backyard through fear of being punctured by a random bolt traveling faster than a rifle bullet!
As magnetic activity inside the sun amps-up toward peak activity in its 11-year solar cycle (known as solar maximum, predicted to occur in 2013), there is a higher frequency of solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). This increased energy output energizes the outer layers of the Earth's atmosphere, and through the laws of basic thermodynamics, it causes the atmosphere to expand.
This expansion pushes some of the gas to higher altitudes. It's like a speeding car hitting a sand-filled escape lane -- the drag of the loose sand zaps the forward momentum of the car, bringing it to a stop. Back in orbit, this tenuous gas creates drag on orbiting space debris, causing it to slow down.
Discovery News
Not exactly world shaking, but for the future of space exploration, something to think about.
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