Avoiding the Kessler Syndrome with Moriba Jah

Mapping out all the space objects and understanding their orbits is the key to avoiding problems in orbit. What are the technical challenges and what's the current state of affairs? We're discussing it with Dr. Moriba Jah.

00:00 Intro
01:28 Current state of the orbit
07:04 Kessler Syndrome
14:57 Risks on Different Altitudes
17:41 Access to the Night Skies
22:33 An Ideal Solution
31:57 Future of Humanity
34:30 Outro

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

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[talkingmudcrab]

Moriba Jah looks like a futuristic shaman. I love his style.

[aounay]

This was one of the most fascinating interviews I have heard in years. Thank you Dr. Moriba Jah and Fraser for sharing these insights.

[rainydays]

You provided me with information and answers to some questions I've had for a while now. Thanks, Fraser and Dr.Moriba.

[OzoneTheLynx]

In Europe we have the Space Sustainability Rating an Enterprise that rates missions during any state of development for it's sustainability. It's still fairly new, but it's quite possible that insurance and funding agencies will add sustainability requirements in the future.

[alfonsopayra]

great insight man, i love when you do this interviews. Thanks Fraser!

[williamgalbraith]

Dr. Moriba Jah makes me want to come out of retirement and go to Texas U at Austin and take his classes. I don't think you could possibly be bored. I wonder about his career path, like how did he go from USAF SP to professor. That would be worth a video for sure.

[davesidious]

Can we get that link to the rolling graph of debris distances?

[michaelkamradt]

When I was born, there was only one thing encircling the planet and I remember watching Sputnik pass overhead, from south to north. "Now we're fucked" Quote my dad at the time.

[pasozytspoleczny]

Very interesting guest and talk. Thank you, Fraser!

[PetraKann]

Enjoyed his interview immensely.
Cheers

[johnholleran]

I don't see Kesslar syndrome as being a civilization ender, just a game changer. We always find ways to do things, even if that means building large shielded spacecraft, something like point defence, or launching from near the poles- we will do what we have to

[TheNoyouyesme]

best video in months! thanks Fraiser!!

[xINVISIGOTHx]

what's a rocket launch like when considering space junk?

[boomie]

First video I've ever seen with zero ads.

[iaov]

Great interview... professors look a lot different today than when I attended college. Seem to be just as smart though ! Thanks guys❤

[craigmooring]

Dr. Jah is fascinating. He looks like a laid-back Reggae star, in sharp (surprisingly so) contrast with his level of expertise and clarity of communication. His picture should be the illustration of the "can't judge a book by its cover" entry in a lexicon of proverbs.
I can see that there is a need for the transparency, predictability, and accountability he speaks of, but I also see that those are exactly the things that military entities don't want (and properly should avoid) others knowing.

[PhysicsPolice]

Great interview! I feel like Moriba was particularly well prepared, knowledgeable, and expertly answered your questions.

[travisthree]

Love Dr Jah. Thanks for the interview!

[PongoXBongo]

To continue the sea lanes/rules analogy, yes, it's prohibitively ineffectient to try and collect every little piece of debris in the seas. But, there are salvager operations that go out to grab the larger objects, whole ships, buoys, platforms, etc. Space salvage may not be economical yet, but we could treat space like our cities, i.e. garbage collection.

We don't have little trucks popping all over town on-demand to collect garbage, but we do have big trucks that follow set routes and just pickup whatever they happen to come across (bins, bags, etc.). We could have a fleet of orbital ships (manned or unmanned) that follow set routes and grab whatever they come across (with magnetic grapplers, by placing gas thrusters for de-orbit, etc.). Their first pass could be identification and authorization (with the managing bodies, corporate and governmental), and their second pass could be the actual interaction.

[bdri]

What is the link for the website they're using?