Space junk exponentially creating more debris through collisions is called Kessler Syndrome. “And as time goes by, their position in space becomes more and more precious because there are fewer orbital paths available to send up new satellites for important purposes such as communications, positioning, earth observation and other technologies.” “But they get into a situation where they lose control of these satellites, or they stop functioning completely but still continue to occupy the orbit for 10 to 15 years and there’s no way of retrieving them.” “We’re seeing an increasing trend of space agencies and companies sending many satellites into much higher orbits, primarily the upper Low Earth Orbit (LEO), and in some cases the GEO orbit. “Space junk contaminates the orbits it occupies it uses up the orbital slot that another functional, more useful satellites could occupy,” says Dr Cheong. Space junk, even this small, can still cause problems, such as taking up precious orbital real estate. The European Space Agency estimates that there are 34,000 objects larger than 10 centimetres in orbit around Earth, and up to 128 million between one millimetre and one centimetre. These satellites are vulnerable - they’re not designed to be smashed.” So regardless of how small the debris it collides with, the satellite will be likely damaged, and therefore more debris is created. “The exterior of satellites is often covered in solar panels, which consist of brittle glass. “Space debris can travel up to 10 kilometres per second which has the same impact of being hit by a small cricket ball at 100 kilometres per hour,” says Dr Cheong. These pieces of space junk, large and small, can cause major problems for other satellites and technology in orbit. The problem is, that these pieces of space junk collide with each other, and other satellites, and break into smaller and smaller pieces. However, due to the high velocity of these objects - they are considered a high risk when an impact occurs.
Space junk can range in size from a few millimetres across (like paint specs) through to defunk satellite and rocket stages, which are the size of buses.
Since humans have been launching objects into space for decades now, the accumulation of these pieces of debris continues to grow. Space junk consists of the remains of satellites and other technology that was sent up into orbit, but has since stopped operation, and is now stuck up there. Dr Joon Wayn Cheong, a satellite systems expert from the University of New South Wales, thinks that there should be an international effort to clean up the space junk that is orbiting Earth.
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