How will your business be impacted if satellites in space stopped working?
There are approximately 12 000 active satellites currently orbiting Earth, and we're dependent on each and every single one of them.
Space, satellite over earth. Image: dlsd cgl on Pixabay
Stephen Grootes interviews Graeme Codrington, lead researcher at the TomorrowToday Futures Institute about the growing concern of space junk and what us earthlings could do to prevent it from becoming a serious issue.
Listen to the interview in the audio player below.
Right now, above your head there are approximately 15 000 satellites currently orbiting Earth. This includes both active satellites and inactive ones.
Close to 12 000 of those are actively functioning, the majority in low-Earth orbit.
Most of the satellites in orbit are for communication purposes such as Wi-Fi, while some are for observation and scientific purposes.
For example, SpaceX’s Starlink has over 7 300 active satellites in earth's orbit.
But what happens to if these satellites stop working for some or other reason?
A known phenomenon that causes satellites and man-made objects in space not to function properly is referred to as 'solar maximum', which is the period of peak activity in the sun's roughly 11-year solar cycle.
During this time, the sun experiences increased sunspots and solar flares, emitting intense radiation which in known to cause damage to object in space.
According to Graeme Codrington, futurist and partner at the TomorrowToday Futures Institute, the sun is approaching solar maximum in the next 12 months.
"If this is a GPS satellite, you might discover that your maps are not working, or not working as well as they should or precisely as they should be. It genuinely could be a communications thing. Suddenly you discover you're not hearing the radio this evening..."
- Graeme Codrington, futurist and partner - TomorrowToday Futures Institute
"Just a few months ago, Spain and Portugal spent three days without electricity. And there is a suspicion that at least part of what happened there was a solar flare that caused a bit of a voltage disturbance in the grid and literally shut the whole country down."
- Graeme Codrington, futurist and partner - TomorrowToday Futures Institute
"...if you're in a business that does of critical infrastructure, especially electronics, just ask he question of your technical people and make sure they've at least talked about it..."
- Graeme Codrington, futurist and partner - TomorrowToday Futures Institute
Scroll to the top of the article to listen to the full interview.