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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  A computer-generated image representing the locations, but not relative sizes, of space debris as could be seen from high Earth orbit (HEO). The two main debris fields are the ring of objects in geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) and the cloud of objects in low Earth orbit (LEO).

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

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

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  Satellite hit by a space debris; animation by ESA

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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

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  Animation of 2020 SO around Earth▇ Moon · ▇  Earth · ▇  2020 SO

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  Known orbit planes of Fengyun-1C debris one month after the weather satellite's disintegration by the Chinese ASAT

Related pages

• Kessler Syndrome

Other websites

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