Incident with Falcon 9 lets in Poland “unprecedented”. “To issue a balance”

Unprecedented deorbitation: Jędrzej Kowalewski, president of the Polish Space Company Scanway SA, points out that the situation with the remains of the Falcon 9 rocket scattered all over Poland after uncontrolled deorbitation is a sensation on a global scale. – It happened that a farmer in the field found the remains of a satellite, which somewhere two months earlier deorbit. It happened that a shard hit a single building, but these were much larger objects. However, such an event that the whole rocket during uncontrolled deorbitation dispersed its remains in such a wide area in Central Europe, takes the first time. You have to be aware of this, because it is such an unprecedented event that it is not entirely clear how to approach it – says our interlocutor.

Polish services did not have the opportunity to learn: Jędrzej Kowalewski emphasizes that this is an incomparably situation, because most deorebiting remains are burning over our heads. And every day even four satellites are deorbit (over the whole world, not only over Poland). However, this is not a reason to send RCB alert each time – says Kowalewski. The cosmic garbage that deorbit is monitored, the Polish space agency has even tried to notify the government to the situation with Falcon 9. Kowalewski points out that it is not clear that it is not clear what we can do in case of situations like in Poland, and the procedures will only need to work out, because there have been no similar events so far. – There is a high -level grinding, but this does not mean that the procedures have not been preserved. This has not happened yet, so it must be treated as science, because our services have not yet had a chance to learn to respond to such situations. That is why I approach it with reserve and trust in them, because I suspect that they already know how to deal with in the future – says Kowalewski.

RCB alert does not make sense: Kowalewski emphasizes that there is no evacuation in such cases, because “people from half of Poland would have to be removed.” It is impossible to precisely determine the corridor of the input of space garbage. We can determine that something deorbits and can burn over our airspace within a few hours. – But The satellites move at a speed of 7 km/SI even a difference of 10 minutes is the difference between different continents – says Jędrzej Kowalewski. And as he adds, such alerts would have to be sent for half the continent, which is pointless.

So what can you do? If we were already sending alerts – says the expert – you could spend Recommendation to stay at home. The deorbitation window is even a few hours, it is hard to imagine that half of the country will not leave the building at this time. It is a better way to prevent such situations. – It’s necessary to exert more social pressure For those who place something in space, especially when it comes to large objects. They should raise more responsibility for this. You have to talk about it loudly, especially when it comes to Elon Musk, because when he recently deorbit him starship, he did not care about it either, but even boasted that entertainment guaranteed – says Jędrzej Kowalewski.

Who is responsible for deorbitation? Our interlocutor emphasizes that the responsibility for uncontrolled deorbitations is borne by A country that placed an object in orbit. Such a law imposes on your international convention for damages caused by space facilities of 1972. Article 10. We read in it that “a claim for damages can be presented to the state releasing not later than within one year from the date of damage or the damage or Finding the release state that is responsible. ” The amount of compensation “is determined in accordance with international law and the principles of justice and equity in order to ensure such remuneration of damage that will restore a natural or legal person, the state or international organization, on behalf of which the claim, the state that would exist if the damage did not occur.”

Bill for Elon Musk: Jędrzej Kowalewski, however, believes that in this case SpaceX fully is to blame, which usually deorbit its facilities by the sea, but this time the company lost control and it failed. “Elon has to be issued to Elon, because even NASA received for littering from orbit,” wrote Kowalewski on social media.

Read also: Source: Gazeta.pl