The Ever Growing Problem of Space Junk

The largest spot of trash on Earth is in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, but there is another area over our heads that holds and continues to gather huge amounts of junk. Space trash is becoming a problem to anything orbiting the earth, and it could someday make our ability for space travel almost impossible.

There are more than 500,000 bits of debris orbiting the earth at this very moment, according to NASA. These are pieces that are at least half an inch in size. The number of other bits swirling about that are smaller is largely unknown. The European Space Agency estimates that the number of debris is closer to 900,000. This ever-increasing amount of space junk poses a problem for spaceflight, satellites, and anything else we may try to put in orbit.

The bits of trash consists of used up and old satellites, bolts and nuts, and used up thrusters from rockets that flew years ago. Many items burn up on re-entry into the atmosphere, but other pieces simply continue their journey around the earth. The problem posed by these pieces is that they are moving at 17,000 miles per hour or more, a velocity that can tear apart anything they come into contact with. It also makes capturing the objects next to impossible. In addition to the inherent dangers of spaceflight, these rapid pieces of debris only increase the danger.