Latest space junk to orbit Earth: A $100,000 tool bag lost by astronauts
The bag orbits the Earth two to four minutes ahead of the International Space Station and anyone with a pair of good binoculars can spot it
The latest litter to join the upper atmosphere above the Earth is a tool bag valued at $100,000 and lost by two NASA astronauts.
Now adrift in space around the Earth, the tool bag was lost by Jasmin Moghbell and Loral O’Hara on November 1 during a rare, all-female spacewalk.
The tool bag slipped away, NASA said, when the astronauts, on their inaugural spacewalk, were repairing components that enable the International Space Station (ISS) solar arrays to continually track the sun.
"During the activity, one tool bag was inadvertently lost,” NASA said on its blog.
Spot it with binoculars
According to EarthSky, the tool bag, looking like a white satchel, exhibits a brightness, just below the threshold of visibility to the naked eye.
Anyone with a pair of good binoculars can spot it, as long as one is looking at the right direction.
The bag is said to orbit the Earth two to four minutes ahead of the ISS, the third brightest object in the night sky.
Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa spotted it floating over Mount Fuji last week, according to astronaut Meganne Christian.
Fate of tool bag
The tool bag is expected to re-enter the atmosphere around March 2024, says EarthSky.
The European Space Agency estimates that 11,000 tonnes of space objects are orbiting Earth.
Media reports say these include up to 36,500 pieces of debris greater than 10 cm, objects that could cause cataclysmic damage if they were to hit a satellite or a rocket.