Dec 21, 2022 3 min read

In these days leading up to Christmas, some degree of speculation invariably centers on the origin and “composition” of the Star of Bethlehem, which Scriptures say guided the magi to the Child Jesus.

Some people believe it was a single star; others believe it was planets viewed as a single body by the naked eye.

The length of time it took the “magi from the East” to reach the location where the child and his earthly parents were also is debated by some people. Nativity scenes depicting shepherds as well as the magi standing together where the baby lay, wrapped in swaddling clothes, are inaccurate, based on the time it would have taken the magi to travel to Bethlehem on their camels.

The magi actually “caught up” to the place – the house – where the Christ Child was living sometime after his birth, not on the day he was born, and likely no shepherds were present when they arrived.

But neither the Star of Bethlehem nor the birth of Jesus on Earth nor the magis’ long journey to see the child who, according to Scriptures, they referred to as the “newborn king of the Jews,” is the central point of this editorial. What is this writing’s central point is the dangerous junk currently inhabiting space, beyond this planet, regardless of where a star, on that first Christmas, illuminated the sky to help guide the magi to their destination.

According to the Wall Street Journal, experts familiar with the space-litter issue estimate that the number of satellites orbiting Earth will increase almost tenfold – to 58,000 – by 2030.

In an article in its Nov. 12-13 edition, the Journal said “space trash could potentially trigger devastating chain reactions, posing a significant threat to a space economy that is forecast by (investment management and financial services company) Morgan Stanley to generate $1 trillion in revenues by 2040. Only three big collisions have happened to date, but close calls are increasingly common.”

The Journal reported that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission in September ruled that operators of satellites in “low Earth orbit” below 1,200 miles of altitude, will in two years be required to remove them “as soon as practicable, and no more than five years following the end of their mission.”

However, relevant unanswered questions are whether the full required capability will exist to carry out such operations, and whether there will be sufficient expertise to pinpoint the exact location of specific junk, so the removal mission can proceed.

The Journal article reported that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration had asked that space junk be disposed of voluntarily within 25 years. However, a 2021 report indicated that compliance averaged under 30% over the past decade – and that 90% compliance would be needed just to slow the pace at which dead satellites, rocket bodies and loose fragments are accumulating.

The demand for space trash-removal companies, therefore, seems destined only to grow. Profit opportunities seem endless, provided that expertise evolves to carry out the needed disposal efficiently and without danger or damage to the still-working satellites circling the globe.

Under the headline, “The difficult search for dangerous space junk,” the Journal said that “the companies hoping to profit from the cleanup job need a better picture of the problem.

Based on the junk-in-space statistics, that is an understatement for sure.