The Evolution of Satellites

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Two to three thousand working satellites are up there now plus 4,000 defunct old ones. There are 35,000 bits of space junk bigger than about the palm of your hand and millions of smaller shall we say micro junk. Soon 30,000 new satellites will join five times the number that areup there now but SpaceX can launch something like this because as a private cosmos courier service they have made launches much more affordable for themselves.

Gaze into the cosmos and wonder at broken satellites, retired rockets and shattered contraptions. Archaeologist Dr. Alice Gorman is a leading expert on orbital debris and chats about what’s up there, how it got there, and how to get it down. Strap in to hear about everything from Sputnik to sports cars, flaming garbage bonking us, alien clutter, collision potential, the most adorable space rubbish, cosmic burials and how one does this type of archeology without boarding a rocket. Also: steaming hot cruise ship gossip.

Follow Dr. Alice Gorman at Twitter.com/DrSpaceJunk

A donation went to Deadly Science: https://deadlyscience.org.au/

Dr. Gorman’s book: Dr. Space Junk vs. The Universe

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Sound editing by Jarrett Sleeper of MindJam Media & Steven Ray Morris

Theme song by Nick Thorburn