Space junk is a term for what scientists call “orbital debris, ”and according to NASA, there are millions of pieces of it floating around.
It’s specifically in low Earth orbit, and although you can’t see it with the naked eye, it’s out there, racing around, in some cases at 18,000 miles per hour.
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So what exactly is it? NASA said orbital debris is any human-made object in orbit about the Earth that no longer serves any useful purpose. It’s said there are more than 25,000 objects larger than 10 cm that we know about—and up to a half million smaller pieces. It’s comprised of derelict spacecraft, debris from spacecraft collisions or explosions, tiny flecks of paint or pieces from impacts, or trash deliberately released for whatever reason on different missions.
There’s enough large pieces out there that the International Space Station has had to dodge the junk before, although it doesn’t happen too often, once a year on average. According to a December 2022 NASA report, the ISS has course-corrected itself 32 times to avoid satellites and trackable space debris since 1999.
But the big question is: Does debris falling down back to Earth pose a risk to people? The answer is – it can.
Most debris doesn’t survive the high temperatures that occur during re-entry, but some have, and are most likely to fall into oceans or unpopulated areas. NASA said in the past 50 years, about an average of one piece a day has fallen to the planet, though no serious injuries or damage have been reported.
But some scientists say that could change. According to a 2022 study, there is actually about a 10% risk that space debris could cause at least one death in the next decade. They came up with this statistic using mathematical modelling and decades worth of past satellite data to predict where more pieces of space debris could land. However, because multiple nations launch rockets, getting all governments on the same page for solutions can be a problem.
Here’s a list of reported incidents where junk has hit Earth this year:
- In March, a mystery object crashed through the roof of a Naples home. NASA later confirmed it was a chunk of space junk from equipment discarded at the International Space Station.
- In April, CTV News reported several pieces of debris fell into 10,000 acres of field in Ituna, Saskatchewan believed to be the trunk of a spacecraft that made its way back to Earth.
- Then in May, a piece of debris was discovered in North Carolina, believed to be space junk from a recent SpaceX mission. Experts had warned on May 21 that the trunk from the SpaceX Dragon that carried Crew-7 astronauts to the space station was returning to Earth about two months after the crew splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico.
You can see all the space junk that’s re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere by clicking here.