MOSCOW. Oct 25 (Interfax) - The space debris situation may become critical in ten years, given the rapid enlargement of satellite clusters, chief designer of the space surveillance system (MAK Vympel) Vitaly Goryuchkin said.
"Considering the current rates of development and the number of satellites deployed, I believe there is a high probability that the situation will be close to critical or even critical in ten years, unless we devise new methods to control and avert such situations," Goryuchkin told Interfax in an interview on Monday.
The space debris problem is particularly pressing in low orbits with altitudes under 3,500 kilometers, he said.
"Low-orbit space objects are mostly monitored by radar stations. Optical systems do not fully support independent monitoring of low-orbit space objects. But I have to say that the problem is extremely pressing in high orbits, especially, the geostationary orbit," Goryuchkin said.
Small-sized objects in orbit constitute the biggest problem for the surveillance system, he said.
"The radars that we have - surveillance system radars, missile attack warning radars, including new Voronezh-type prefabricated radar stations - are successfully monitoring fairly large objects. However, there is need for powerful specialized radars focusing on surveillance of small-sized space objects," Goryuchkin said.
"There are plenty of ideas as to how to clean up debris in outer space, but they are mostly fictional," he said.
Roscosmos said on August 4 that the overall weight of space debris exceeded 7,000 tonnes.