Asteroid dust could be hazardous to satellites
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.028911
New Scientist : One of NASA’s current plans is to capture an asteroid and bring it into Earth orbit for research. It’s the first step in what some companies hope will be a full-fledged asteroid mining industry. Now Casey Handmer of Caltech and Javier Roa of the Technical University of Madrid are cautioning that dust from asteroid mining could damage satellites in orbit around Earth. According to their model, because an asteroid’s gravity is not enough to hold onto loose rocks, up to 5% of the debris that escapes the asteroid could end up in areas through which satellites orbit. They also found that if a 5-m asteroid broke up, it could raise the risk of a satellite–debris collision by as much as 30%.
