Quick Take | Cleaning space junk

As uncontrolled space crashes trigger doomsday rumours, policy on how to mitigate them must also follow

From the European Space Agency, an artists illustration of the huge numbers of satellites and space debris in orbit  (Photo | Flickr/CC BY-NC 2.0)

It’s not just fictional Gaulish chief Vitalstatistix who worries about the sky falling on his head. Out-of-control space debris can have a similar effect on modern-day mortals. The latest scare was about Nasa’s 22-year-old, 1.5-tonne Neil Gehrels Swift satellite, which tumbled out of orbit before being incinerated on re-entering Earth’s atmosphere over Indonesia on Wednesday. No casualty has been reported yet. The uncontrolled crash of Nasa’s Skylab space station in 1979 had triggered such intense doomsday rumours that residents in parts of Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh are reported to have sold off property at huge discounts. Such periodic worries should goad governments to update the outdated Outer Space Treaty of 1967 and work together to manage space debris is a coordinated manner. Anyone wants to champion Swachh Antriksh?