Space debris

Space debris around Earth from a top-down view. The cloud of objects in the center are objects in low Earth orbit, and the ring on the edge is objects in geostationary orbit.

Space debris is the collection of useless objects that are in orbit around Earth, for example broken satellites, empty rocket stages, pieces of metal, and many more. Because of how much space debris there is, collisions happen between space debris and sometimes even operational spacecraft, creating more debris.

Since the start of space programs and the launch of Sputnik 1, NORAD has an active list of all known space launches and objects that are in Earth orbit, including waste parts, for example booster rockets. This is the Space Object Catalog.

Space Debris Media

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  Infographic showing the space debris situation in different kinds of orbits around Earth

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  Baker-Nunn cameras were widely used to study space debris.

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  Gabbard diagram of almost 300 pieces of debris from the disintegration of the five-month-old third stage of the Chinese Long March 4 booster on 11 March 2000

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  NASA computer-generated image of debris objects in Earth orbit, c. 2005

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  Objects in Earth orbit including fragmentation debris, November 2020, NASA: ODPO

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  Debris density in low Earth orbit

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  Illustration of a satellite breaking up into multiple pieces at higher altitudes

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  Vanguard 1 is expected to remain in orbit for 240 years.

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  A drifting thermal blanket photographed in 1998 during STS-88

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  Spent upper stage of a Delta II rocket, photographed by the XSS 10 satellite

Related pages

• Kessler Syndrome

Other websites

• [1] Space junk map tracks 200 ‘ticking time bombs’.
• Space debris -Citizendium