The Space Junkyard

No, this is not the huge belt of space clutter circling around the Earth, but funnily enough is an actual place on Earth, in Central Asia to be more specific. Kazakhstan is home to this wonderful array of space trash. Russian rocket boosters and fuel tanks are the culprits, for this debris hurls back down to Earth, since these items are ejected before the space craft goes into orbit. It has been know for this debris to go through the odd roof. This space litter is quite valuable in fact, for it is consists of some high grade titanium and aluminium alloy, which can be sold for a profit. Yet it is a poor price to pay for having highly toxic space fuel dumped near your backyard. A study conducted by “Nature” found that under the flight paths of these Russian rockets, medical problems such as endocrine and blood disorders were twice the regional average. The epidemiologist conducting the experiment though did say that some of the medical recorders were disorganised and that it was not clear how the data was collected. Never the less whatever the case I am glad that I live hundreds of miles away from Kazakhstan. It just shows how lucky I am to live in good old England.

What do you think about this issue?

Email: rjmm.dodd@btopenworld.com

By Robert Dodd