Oct 11 1990
From The Space Library
The Office of Technology Assessment warned that Space debris could make space activity too risky in 20 to 30 years if the most traveled orbits continue to be littered. With the average collision velocity in low-Earth orbit 6.2 miles per second, an object having 1/35th the weight of an aspirin tablet has the impact of a .30-caliber bullet, they said. The At Force tracks such debris to advise NASA before Shuttle missions, but no course change has ever been deemed necessary. (W Post, Oct 12/90; C Trib, Oct 14/90)
NASA scientists warned that examination of data from the ozone hole over the South Pole showed record depletion. They added that ozone levels throughout the Southern Hemisphere were as low as they had ever been. The ozone hole has been monitored since 1979 with the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer, an instrument on the Goddard-Managed NIMBUS-7 spacecraft. (C Trib, Oct 12/90; NASA Release 90-137)
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