Out of this world: environmental history of near-Earth space

Since the early days of the Space Age spent rocket stages,
decommissioned satellites, and rubbish of all kinds have
contaminated near-Earth space. At present more than 100 million
pieces of human-made debris ranging in size from dead satellites
to flecks of paint whiz around the Earth at incredibly fast
speeds. This cloud of space junk poses a threat to our space
infrastructure on which we now depend so much for navigation,
communication, Earth surveillance, and scientific and industrial
data collection, because even small fragments of a disintegrated
spacecraft can seriously damage other satellites.


Does the creation of space debris mean that humanity has extended
the “industrial sphere” into near-Earth space? Historian Lisa
Ruth Rand, A PhD candidate at the University of Pennsylvania,
discusses this question on episode 67 of Exploring Environmental
History. She also examines why environmental historians should
study the expansion of humanity beyond earth and other space
environmental history related issues.


Music credit


“The Astronaut” by timberman, Available from ccMixter