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https://podcast.longnow.org/interval/redirect/interval-020220426-levit-podcast.mp3
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https://static.longnow.org/media/cache/b5/29/b5293233a840ca1dd6c8f019e9ec53c1.jpg
Space Debris and The Kessler Syndrome: A Possible Future Trapped on Earth

Space Debris and The Kessler Syndrome: A Possible Future Trapped on Earth

Creon Levit

April 26, 02022

More than one hundred million pieces of human-made space debris currently orbit our planet, most moving at more than 10,000 mph. Every year their number increases, creating a progressively more dangerous environment for working spacecraft. In order to operate in space, we track most of this debris through a patchwork of private efforts and government defense networks. Creon Levit spent over three decades at NASA, and is now the Director of R&D at Planet, a company that is imaging the earth everyday with one of the largest swarms of micro-satellites in the world. Creon will discuss the history of space debris, the way the debris is currently tracked, and how we might work to reduce it before we see a cascading effect of ballistic interactions that could render low orbit all but unusable.

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