No Room in Space: The Growing Space Junk Problem
Since the 1950s, the world has launched about 16,000 objects into space, from satellites and probes to rockets and manned spacecraft. Some came back to Earth. Some still perform a function in space. And some just sit in our planet's orbit, slowly breaking into pieces.
In fact, at 2,000 kilometers above the ground, a junkyard with hundreds of millions of pieces of human-made space debris circles our planet. And it's getting bigger.
While the world used to send about 80-100 satellites into orbit each year, that number has grown to around 2,000 being launched in 2022 alone. And the growing number of objects in orbit is causing a number of problems.
From parts of rockets to flakes of paint, the debris that clutters Earth's orbit travels at speeds of around 7-8 kilometers a second. These can cause great damage — and create even more debris — if objects collide.
If key satellites are hit by debris, navigation and communication services could be disrupted across the world.
And while even the smallest pieces of space debris can cause damage to satellites and spacecraft in orbit, humans on Earth may be at risk of harm too.
Debris that enters the Earth's atmosphere can fall to the ground at high speeds. In 2022, parts of a SpaceX spacecraft were found littered across an area of New South Wales, Australia, after an uncontrolled return to Earth.
The Pentagon's Space Surveillance Network currently tracks around 27,000 pieces of orbital debris that are 5 centimeters or larger in size. But is there a way of cleaning up this space junk?
Most satellite operators dispose of their satellites by letting them enter the Earth's atmosphere to burn up, destroying the object before it hits the ground. However, this can release harmful chemicals, and larger pieces may not be completely destroyed.
But there may be a way to dispose of some junk without it returning to Earth. Space technology startup ThinkOrbital is designing a satellite that it hopes will be able to catch space debris and even process it, turning it into aluminum powder that could be used as spacecraft fuel.
