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Transcript/ScriptLogOn: Space Trash Technology
HEADLINE: LogOn: Space Environmentalist Uses Technology to Raise Awareness of
Space Trash
TEASER: People can watch space trash nearly collide in real time on website
PUBLISHED AT: 0314/2023 AT 8:50AM
BYLINE: Deana Mitchell
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Austin, Texas
VIDEOGRAPHER: Deana Mitchell
PRODUCER: Deana Mitchell
SCRIPT EDITORS: Quinn, Reifenratrh
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, NASA,
AP, AFP
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV X RADIO _X_
TRT: 1:58
VID APPROVED BY: MAS
TYPE:
EDITOR NOTES: A longer version of this TV story was released on 1/24/2023. Thank
you))
((INTRO))
[[A so-called space environmentalist is working to make the public more aware about
space debris by tracking its movement in real time on a website. He says we need to
think about space as an ecosystem. Deana Mitchell has the story.]]
((NARRATOR))
((Mandatory CG: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation))
Looking at the night sky, you won’t see thousands of pieces of trash, but it’s there.
Moriba Jah says we are polluting Earth’s orbit with old satellites and other retired debris,
just like we pollute the land, air and ocean.
((Moriba Jah, Space Environmentalist))
“When things collide in major collisions, two objects become tens of thousands of
smaller pieces that then become hazardous to other satellites providing services and
capabilities that we depend upon.”
((NARRATOR))
Jah is an astrodynamicist who studies the motion of natural and artificial bodies in
space.
((Mandatory CG: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation))
He’s among a chorus of people who say space trash is a growing problem.
((end courtesy))
He takes a unique position, that space trash ...
((Mandatory CG: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation))
...is an environmental issue.
((Moriba Jah, Space Environmentalist))
“I just felt very passionately about it, and it made sense to me.”
((NARRATOR))
Jah was born in San Francisco California.
((Mandatory CG: NASA))
He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, where he began to think about space.
He started studying debris in Earth’s orbit in 2006.
[[For Radio Only: Here’s Jah speaking to the Macarthur Foundation]]
((Mandatory CG: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation))
((Moriba Jah, Space Environmentalist))
“The orbital highways are getting crowded and the services and capabilities that we
depend upon are in jeopardy of being lost.”
((NARRATOR))
((Mandatory CG: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation))
Jah created “Wayfinder,” a database that analyzes multiple sources of information about
objects in space and visualizes what’s in orbit in real time. It is currently tracking about
30,000 objects in Earth’s orbit. Just 4,000 are functioning.
((NARRATOR))
((Mandatory CG: Zoom))
John Crassidis has known Jah for years. He works with NASA, the U.S. Air Force and
other agencies also tracking space debris.
((John Crassidis, SUNY Distinguished Professor))
((Mandatory CG: Zoom))
"The data's all right there. You can’t escape the data. The more the more you put up
there, the more near collisions that you have.”
((NARRATOR))
Russia, India and China have blown up satellites as weapons tests. The US Congress
is working on a bipartisan space debris bill.
[[For Radio Only: Here’s Jah again]]
((Moriba Jah, Space Environmentalist))
“So, it’s up to every country to kind of be the traffic cop for the people that it authorizes
to conduct space activities.”
((NARRATION))
((Mandatory CG: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation))
Jah is hopeful his work will help educate and empower decision makers to take
necessary action.
((Deana Mitchell, for VOA News, Austin, Texas))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)
Austin, Texas
Embargo DateMarch 13, 2023 23:15 EDT
Byline
((Deana Mitchell, for VOA News, Austin, Texas)
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
