{"id":772238,"date":"2026-07-01T01:01:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T01:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/772238\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T01:01:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T01:01:13","slug":"13000-tonnes-of-space-junk-clutters-earth-orbit-heres-how-it-could-be-cleaned-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/772238\/","title":{"rendered":"13,000 tonnes of space junk clutters Earth orbit. Here\u2019s how it could be cleaned up"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seventy years ago, Earth had only one satellite: the Moon. Now it has more than 15,000<\/a> \u2013 about 10,000 of which are owned by Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX. The world\u2019s first trillionaire plans to launch<\/a> one million more satellites, each roughly 70 metres long and 20 metres wide, that would form a data centre megaconstellation. <\/p>\n

But more satellites means more space junk<\/a>, which is already threatening critical infrastructure we rely on every day.<\/p>\n

Addressing this problem effectively requires work across three fronts: technology, policy and philosophy.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The race to the Moon and beyond is accelerating. Some say it\u2019s for the benefit of all humanity. But is it really? In this seven-part series<\/a>, we explore what our future in space will look like, how we might travel and survive out there, and what\u2019s needed to stop a catastrophe from happening.<\/p>\n

13 million cane toads worth of space junk<\/p>\n

Space junk is everything in Earth orbit that doesn\u2019t have a purpose. It includes discarded rocket bodies, defunct and broken satellites, and fragments down to nanoparticle size. There are 36,000 pieces of junk<\/a> larger than ten centimetres and tens of millions of smaller pieces and particles.<\/p>\n

The estimated weight<\/a> of all of this junk is 13,486 tonnes, the equivalent of 13 million adult cane toads<\/a>. The United States, Russia (as well as the former USSR), and China are the biggest contributors. <\/p>\n

Space junk is dangerous because it\u2019s orbiting at almost unimaginable speeds \u2013 7 kilometres per second on average<\/a> in low Earth orbit. A collision can break up a satellite and create even more space junk.<\/p>\n

The worst case scenario is called Kessler syndrome<\/a>. Each collision creates space junk which collides with other space junk, in an endless cascade. It could make regions of Earth orbit unusable, or possibly even cut Earth off from space.<\/p>\n

Human spaceflight is already threatened by the debris around Earth. The International Space Station manoeuvres to avoid collision<\/a> at least once a year.<\/p>\n

The default solution is to let space junk get dragged into the atmosphere where it incinerates. For example, at least one Starlink satellite burns up in the atmosphere<\/a> every day. <\/p>\n

But this is now creating enough soot and alumina particles to have an impact on the ozone layer<\/a>, which protects us from harmful ultraviolet radiation.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

New technology can help<\/p>\n

Technological solutions involve active debris removal<\/a>, and strategic satellite and mission design.<\/p>\n

Active debris removal gets rid of old spacecraft by tipping them into the atmosphere or pushing them into a \u201cgraveyard\u201d orbit”<\/a> which isn\u2019t used by functioning satellites. There\u2019s even a hit list<\/a> of the 50 most dangerous spacecraft \u2013 mainly abandoned rocket bodies. <\/p>\n

Debris removal technologies include nets<\/a>, magnets<\/a>, tethers<\/a>, sails<\/a>, slingshots<\/a>, and harpoons<\/a>. Very few have been successfully tested in space.<\/p>\n

New satellites can be made from materials that are more durable, so they last longer \u2013 or more disposable, so they can be used and quickly de-orbited. <\/p>\n

Japan has been testing wood<\/a> as a spacecraft material. Other options include refuelling spacecraft<\/a> to extend their life. <\/p>\n

Better policies<\/p>\n

Policies are also changing to focus more on satellite end-of-life disposal.<\/p>\n

The old standard was that spacecraft should not remain in original mission orbits for more than 25 years. Now it\u2019s five years<\/a>. The disadvantage to this policy is that more spacecraft will burn up<\/a> in the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

The European Space Agency is spearheading a zero debris policy<\/a>, and the Inter-Agency Debris Co-ordination Committee issues debris mitigation guidelines<\/a>. There\u2019s also an international standard<\/a> for space debris mitigation.<\/p>\n

Better international co-operation could be achieved through space traffic management<\/a>. Space traffic management aims to establish \u201croad rules\u201d for avoiding congestion in orbit, by limiting debris creation, co-ordinating orbital activities and sharing information. However, a globally agreed space traffic management system doesn\u2019t yet exist. <\/p>\n

All the same, satellite operators are starting to take their environmental responsibilities seriously. But is this enough?<\/p>\n

Rethinking space<\/p>\n

Old ways of thinking about space have not served humanity well. <\/p>\n

The ideologies driving the space junk problem are competition for prestige and orbital resources<\/a>, and the belief that there are no moral obligations to the space environment. Often, orbital space is not seen as an environment at all because it is without life.<\/p>\n

These beliefs coincide in the \u201ctechbro\u201d space, in which billionaires are competing to launch satellite megaconstellations. Research has shown caring for the environment is not seen as masculine<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Earth and space are no longer separate domains. Space junk should be managed as a more-than-planetary interconnected system extending from the spacecraft cemetery<\/a> at the bottom of the ocean, through the atmosphere, to all Earth and lunar orbits. The Moon\u2019s surface is also being impacted<\/a> by space junk.<\/p>\n

Philosopher Val Plumwood\u2019s co-participation approach<\/a> to environmental management provides a new perspective. We give the environment what it needs to flourish, instead of depleting it to the point of collapse.<\/p>\n

The jury is still out<\/a> on whether Kessler Syndrome will eventually cut us off from space. Perhaps new myths and stories will arise around the space junk people see burning through the atmosphere. Watching the skies for \u201ccultural meteorites\u201d is becoming part of the shared human experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seventy years ago, Earth had only one satellite: the Moon. Now it has more than 15,000 \u2013 about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":772239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[49,48,66],"class_list":["post-772238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=772238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/772239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=772238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=772238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=772238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}