This was an essay I wrote as an assignment for my Interdisciplinary Studies class. The goal of the assignment is to reflect on myself and my academic journey. We were supposed to look back on what activities and opportunities have impacted us and changed our journey. After this, the goal was to attack a problem that relates to your major. I picked the problem of space waste managment.
Duncan Crenshaw
Doctor Davis
IST 185-002
5 September 2024
Duncan Crenshaw- Academic Journey and Insight Into Space Junk
Many events in my life have shaped my academic journey. I have taken a plethora of classes with diverse subject matter. In high school, I took classes such as general music, intro to law, and digital literacy and Spanish. These courses have developed me into having a wider appreciation for other subjects and or perspectives. My intro to law class was particularly invigorating, it opened a whole new perspective on the judicial system. In that class, we did deep dives into the O.J. Simpson case and mock trials and other things of that nature. It made me appreciate well-run law enforcement and the judicial system. Another class that made a major impact was general music; it gave me an appreciation for classical music and musicians in general.
Another group of classes that have greatly impacted me was the first few classes in college. I took classes like astronomy, statistical methods, and political ideas. Astronomy confirmed what I already believed going into college; I want to spend my life studying space. My professor, Dr. Ramkumar, absolutely impacted my academic career and set my expectations about what a great professor looks like. Political ideas and statistical methods taught me the value of staying disciplined and hard work. These are both classes that I finished with a B in and are classes that I have spent the most time on. After struggling through these classes, in the end, I finished with a good grade and was proud of myself.
Between elementary school and high school, I participated in many extracurricular activities. In elementary school, I was on the academic team and basketball. In middle school, I expanded my activities to include track and football. In high school, I added student council and the YSA president under my belt. These activities have exposed me to a wide variety of people and situations. They have developed skills like teamwork, problem-solving, determination, and time management. The presidency of YSA has tested and developed my leadership skills significantly in such a brief time. The presidency has also taught me the importance of building a strong network and trusting your teammates.
Throughout my academic career, I wanted to do many things for a job. When I was a little kid, I would have said I wanted to be a professional race car driver or a police officer. Fast forward a few years, I would have answered a teacher more than likely. Nowadays, I am set on becoming an astrophysicist or entrepreneur. Or both!
One problem that relates directly to me and my major is the management of space junk. Over the last almost seventy years, humans have been launching items, satellites, and themselves into space. As a byproduct of these amazing feats, humans have left behind millions of pieces of debris and junk in space. At first, somebody might point out that space is vast and expanding. While true, most of our junk humans have produced is stuck in low earth orbit. According to Nasa, “LEO is an orbital space junk yard” (“Space Debris-NASA").
A large chunk of this debris is due to two major incidents. The first was an intentional destruction of a Chinese spacecraft in 2007. The next was a collision between an American and Russian spacecraft in 2009. These events increased the amount of junk in low Earth orbit by around 70% ("Space Debris-NASA"). This is a massive problem for all new spacecraft; forcing them to wiggle their way through a minefield of objects traveling between 17,000-18,000 miles an hour ("Space Debris-NASA"); which is almost seven times the speed of a bullet.
There are many proposed solutions to this issue. Some of these solutions are “...nets, laser blasts, harpoons, giant foam balls, puffs of air, tethers and solar sails—as well as garbage-gathering robotic arms and tentacles—have all been proposed as solutions for taking out our orbital trash” (David). One factor that muddies up coming to a consensus on the best solution is because of the shapes and sizes that debris comes in. ScientificAmerican.com puts it like this, “Space junk ranges from nanoparticles to whole spacecraft such as the European Space Agency’s Envisat, which is the size of a double-decker bus and at the top of everyone's removal hit list, says Alice Gorman, a space archaeologist and space junk expert at Flinders University in Australia” (David).
Many disciplines would have to work together to combat this ongoing issue. My potential field of physics would play a massive part in this process; doing the math and calculations to plot out the ideal places to intercept the debris and dispose of it. Another field that could potentially have a significant impact is the legal field. Space law is very loose and unrealized at this point. A potential overhaul of legal restrictions for the creation of space junk and legal obligations of removing a certain amount of junk a year would force scientists to treat this issue with more urgency and as important. Moreover, environmental scientists would play a key role in the proper disposal of the trash and would keep the health of Earth front and center. Although this list is not comprehensive, it demonstrates the amount of people that would have to be involved in a large-scale project like this.
Works Cited
David, Leonard. “Space Junk Removal Is Not Going Smoothly.” Scientific American, 20 Feb. 2024, www.scientificamerican.com/article/space-junk-removal-is-not-going-smoothly.
“Examples of pressing issues in space, reasons, and disciplines involved in removing space junk” prompt. ChatGPT, GPT-4 version, OpenAI. 5 September 2024, https://chatgpt.com/c/846c9dd6-ef62-4abd-bbd1-29ff98664732
“Space Debris - NASA.” NASA, www.nasa.gov/headquarters/library/find/bibliographies/space-debris.