28 March/April 2021
GETTY^ IMAGESSpace
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// BY JENNIFER LEM A N //Can Magnets
and a Giant
Claw Save Us
From Space
Junk?
L
AST SEPTEMBER, A TINY PIECE OF SHRAPNEL FROM
the body of a Japanese H-2A rocket hurtled toward the
International Space Station (ISS) and its crew at 17,500
miles per hour. An hour before the projected collision,
f light controllers back on Earth powered up the space-
craft’s thrusters and moved it out of the way. That scrap of
junk could have punched a hole in the hull of the space sta-
tion, and it was the station’s third close call in two weeks.
Since the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, we’ve sent
more than 10,000 objects into orbit. As these spacecraft increas-
ingly collide, break apart, or explode, they generate massive clouds
of debris that sweep across low-Earth orbit and pose a threat to
the roughly 3,300 functioning satellites we rely on for navigation,