Is the ISS in danger?

By Victoria Jaggard, SCIENCE executive editor

When it comes to science fiction movies, I very rarely hope that life imitates art. I’m in no hurry to meet predatory aliens, flee from virus-born zombies, or try to outwit murderous AI. And as for the crew of the International Space Station, I’m sure none of them were eager to do a dramatic reenactment of the 2013 blockbuster Gravity. But in a move that shocked many spaceflight fans, this week the Russian government really did shoot down a defunct satellite, which created an actual cloud of space debris that forced the ISS crew to take shelter in their spacecraft in case of catastrophic impact.

Fortunately, so far that’s where the similarities end between the movie and real life. But the crew remains in a state of alert and their planned activities have been canceled for now, as the station (pictured above) sweeps near the debris cloud roughly every 90 minutes.

The whole situation got set in motion when Russia intentionally destroyed one of its old intelligence satellites as part of an anti-satellite missile test. Moscow’s defense ministry confirmed the test but has dismissed concerns that it has put astronauts in danger, according to NBC News. Still, the test did generate hundreds of thousands of pieces of space junk that experts are now racing to track. As Nadia Drake reports for us, smaller pieces may burn up in Earth’s atmosphere within a year or so, but larger pieces could linger in low-Earth orbit for decades. And even a tiny bit of debris moving at orbital speeds can damage the space station or working satellites, which means it’s incredibly important to know where they are and whether space agencies can move any potential targets out of harm’s way.

Other countries have conducted similar anti-satellite tests in the past—including the U.S. Each test has served as a reminder that the space immediately around Earth is getting uncomfortably crowded. We depend on satellites for internet access, weather forecasts, GPS navigation, scientific and intelligence monitoring, and so much more. That means low-Earth orbit is chock full of active objects as well as broken or decommissioned satellites, ejected rocket parts, and millions of bits of debris. Experts have warned for years that this is not sustainable; at some point, we may get a cascade effect in which orbital space would be filled with so much junk it becomes unusable.

In March, Japan launched a demo mission to test ways to clean up space junk, adding to prototypes that have been tried out in recent years. But right now there’s no viable solution that could be deployed in case of emergency, leaving astronauts and satellite operators with only one consolation, according to former NASA astronaut Ed Lu: “Space is big, and that’s what you bank on.”

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THE NIGHT SKIES

Set the alarm early—or stay up very late! Yes, it’s the longest partial lunar eclipse in six centuries. And yes, very early Friday, the full moon will darken and then turn ruddy at peak eclipse (see above). That will be at 4:03 a.m. EST (1:03 a.m. PST), though the moon will begin traveling through the Earth’s dark shadow two hours before that and will fully emerge roughly two hours later. Sky watchers across North America and nearly all of the Pacific Ocean will get to see the entire eclipse, while those in Eastern Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South America, and western Europe will either miss the first or last eclipse stages. Here’s more on the moon’s eclipses. — Andrew Fazekas

LUNAR ECLIPSE 101

TODAY IN A MINUTE

Beyond incubators: About 10 percent of U.S. babies are born prematurely—and 15 million worldwide. And even the tiniest of babies feels pain. Now, hospitals are incorporating non-pharmaceutical interventions that center on techniques known as developmental care, which keep babies and their families together rather than simply isolating infants in incubators. By touching, singing, or talking to their babies (pictured above, in Italy), mothers or other caregivers may be able to reduce pain and toxic stress that can create serious developmental problems, Nat Geo reports.

Scientifically solving crimes: A team of prominent genealogists, most of them women, have combined the study of ancestry with genetics to forge a powerful new policing tool. Twenty-one years after an unsolved killing in Washington State, genetic genealogist CeCe Moore identified the murderer. “It took her two hours on a Saturday,” the New Yorker writes.

Scientist-turned-activist: How can we hope to save species from extinction, E.O. Wilson wondered one day, if we don’t even know them? Wilson, an exacting field biologist, “made it his mission to create public awareness or this mass extinction and loss of biology,” the New York Times writes in a review of a new biography on Wilson, titled Scientist.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

From above: Photographer Jody MacDonald got the opportunity to photograph this glacier in Alaska. “It is tough to appreciate the full power of a glacier,” MacDonald says, “until you see it from above. They are continually in motion” and store most of the world’s fresh water. Snow and icy glaciers that drape just the Earth’s high mountains play a crucial role for 1.6 billion people—more than a fifth of the planet’s population, Nat Geo reports.

NATURE’S ‘WATER TOWERS’

THE LAST GLIMPSE

Hiding out: These three shrimp tucked inside a clam shell for shelter, but it turned into their tomb. The fossilized shrimp, dating some 100 million years, are the oldest of the species detected seeking shelter in other animals. “This is a big finding, a big discovery,” paleontologist Ninon Robin tells Nat Geo. (Pictured above, one of the three fossilized shrimp discovered.)

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