Written by Eduardo Baptista
Here’s some breaking news from Beijing: The Shenzhou-20 crewed spaceship had to delay its journey back to Earth. This sudden change follows the spacecraft possibly getting struck by small pieces of space debris, as stated by the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) on Wednesday.
They mentioned that an analysis is in progress to understand the impact and calculate any associated risks. However, there’s no update on when the mission will be rescheduled – it was originally slated to touch down in northern China today.
This hold-up underlines the current issues related to space travel safety caused by the ever-growing amount of space debris floating around. What is space debris, you might ask? It’s basically all the junk up there—like old rocket stages or leftover spacecraft elements—that pose a collision threat to operational space vehicles.
The Shenzhou program is essential for transporting Chinese astronauts to the Tiangong space station, where they spend six months taking care of various tasks, including repairing damages from impacts caused by space debris.
For context, back in April, the Shenzhou-19 crew’s return was delayed by one day because of rough weather conditions. But this is the first instance of a mission being postponed due to space junk concerns.
SPACE JUNK: A RISING HEADACHE
As time goes on, space junk is becoming a more significant issue, prompting calls for collaborative management of space traffic. Last year at a forum, Chinese President Xi Jinping invited Chinese and Arab nations to work together to establish a “space debris observation centre.”
The United Nations has also weighed in, stating that immediate action is necessary regarding space traffic management. They urged the creation of a shared database that catalogs orbiting objects and outlined the need for an international system to monitor them.
In a complaint to the UN in 2021, China reported that the Tiangong station had to execute two emergency maneuvers to dodge debris generated by Starlink satellites from SpaceX, leading the charge in Earth’s low orbits.
Beijing and Washington have been at odds over debris-related accusations for years. China’s UN mission called out a certain superpower for being the leading nation in conducting anti-satellite tests that have contributed extensively to space junk creation, specifically referring to the United States.
After the infamous Chinese anti-satellite missile test in 2007 that destroyed a satellite in a polar orbit—creating a massive debris field—the U.S. called it reckless.
On a more proactive front, China is looking into technologies aimed at reducing the risk of debris-related collisions in space. This includes innovations like laser monitoring systems and deorbiting “sails” that, once deployed, can accelerate a spacecraft’s descent into Earth’s atmosphere, ensuring it burns up without adding to the debris problem.
(This article is a product of Eduardo Baptista with additional contributions from Liz Lee and the Beijing newsroom. Editing credits go to Himani Sarkar and Christian Schmollinger.)
