Scientists Found a Surprising Way to Track Falling Space Junk

Scientists Found a Surprising Way to Track Falling Space Junk

Earthquake sensors are giving scientists a new way to track space junk as it falls back to Earth. Thousands of discarded, human-made objects remain in orbit around Earth, and when pieces of this space debris fall back to the surface, they can pose real dangers to people. To better identify where debris might land, a [...]

How Scientists Use Earthquake Sensors to Track Space Junk Crashing to Earth

Our atmosphere is loaded with space junk. And every once in a while, it comes plummeting down to Earth in a rain of fire. Tracking it used to be nearly impossible. All scientists could do was keep an eye on it and provide a rough estimate of where it might land. Now, a team of researchers might figure out a way to watch it more closely, by not watching it at all—but by listening to space debris slam into the atmosphere using the same instruments…

When Earth listens: seismic networks track space debris

Earth’s global network of seismometers can detect subtle ground vibrations created when space junk re-enters the atmosphere, offering scientists a surprising new way to track falling debris from orbit.Space junk varies in size and shape from tiny fragments of paint to discarded rocket boosters, but no matter their size, each piece poses a risk to humans when it falls to the ground. Image: Adobe.Seismometers are always listening, usually to the g…