Here’s How Spacecraft Maneuver Around Space Debris – SlashGear

First of all, when launching a new spacecraft into the atmosphere, NASA spends months planning the trajectory in order to ensure a successful lift-off that safely exits the Earth’s atmosphere. The project of space travel is underpinned by a vast army of scientists and physicists who spend their days calculating angles and speeds that can produce successful voyages off of the Earth’s surface.

But once a spacecraft is out of the atmosphere, even more complex math is required to protect the people and materials on board. Craft like the International Space Station continuously hover above the Earth’s surface and play host to a revolving door of astronauts from a number of countries around the world (via NASA). This research laboratory is an essential part of global diplomacy and serves to further our understanding of the universe. But natural and artificial debris can threaten this mission from time to time. In order to keep the ISS safe and functioning, a team of researchers is constantly monitoring an atlas of space debris that exists both in orbit around the Earth and beyond it (via NASA). Mapping these discrete particles is a serious job and calculating their trajectory at any given point in time gives control teams the ability to make course corrections that will bring the ISS, telescopes, and other satellites in orbit out of harm’s way. These often include firing boosters to push the craft into a new path.