Inset image from [1]. Not from Planetes, but it could have been. The larger, two-page version was probably derived from everything that the ESA was tracking on radar. Here’s the description:
Instead of floating inside an orb, these flakes, some of the solar system’s newest ornaments, dance around it. The dusting comprises active satellites and tens of thousands of space scraps—including wrenches left behind after extraterrestrial home-repair projects, bits of long-abandoned satellites, and actual trash bags stuffed with the detritus of manned space flight. The number of pieces of junk in this orbiting garbage dump, which circles Earth at speeds up to 7800 meters per second, is multiplying; when the particles collide, they break into smaller pieces that some believe could eventually make it too risky to put satellites into orbit or even to explore outer space.
[1] “The Big Picture – Snow Globe,” Spectrum, IEEE , vol.45, no.7, pp.18-19, July 2008
One Comment
Planetes was damn good and it pinpointed the exact problem we might face; it is serious enough just by looking at this picture as it is. But then again it depends on whether the governments of the world believe this to be a serious enough problem to allocate resources to…before an accident happens, that is. Not if but when, in fact.