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\n\t\tEarth\u2019s low-orbit is a big rubbish heap at this point (Picture: Getty)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tEarth\u2019s low-orbit is a big rubbish heap at this point (Picture: Getty)<\/p>\n
The next time your Wi-Fi goes down<\/a>, your internet provider might try to blame it on tiny flecks of paint, experts have told Metro.<\/p>\n A big worry among scientists right now is \u2018space <\/a>junk\u2019, a rather unthreatening-sounding word for dead satellites and machinery scraps.<\/p>\n But these tens of millions of cosmic rubbish pieces orbit the Earth at speeds seven times faster than a bullet. <\/p>\n At such speeds, even a fleck of paint could obliterate a satellite, knocking out internet services <\/a>and navigation systems.<\/p>\n Dr Penelope Wozniakiewicz <\/a>has told Metro that she has secured funding for a five-year project to show how dangerous space junk really is.<\/p>\n \t\t \u2018Space debris is one of the fastest-growing threats to the future of space exploration,\u2019 the senior space science lecturer says.<\/p>\n Dr Wozniakiewicz\u2019s team at the University of Kent<\/a> are going to simulate cosmic collisions using a \u2018two-stage gas gun<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n You can think of it as a giant NERF gun. Rather than bullets, it uses gas pressure to shoot pellets at 18,000 miles per hour.<\/p>\n By firing aluminium plates, rods and spheres at very high-speeds into each other, scientists will be able to safely recreate satellite smashes.<\/p>\n Data from the five-year PROSPER project will help space officials develop \u2018dust detectors\u2019 to measure how many internet-ending but hard-to-track particles there are.<\/p>\n \u2018With this project, we can generate the high-precision data that agencies and companies worldwide need to build a safer, cleaner and more sustainable<\/a> space environment,\u2019 Dr Wozniakiewicz says.<\/p>\n The project will be funded by the European Research Council, a European Union<\/a> body that offers grants. <\/p>\n \t\t Space has become the lucrative new frontier for tech giants, with 15,100 tonnes worth <\/a>of objects now in the heavens.<\/p>\n Elon Musk<\/a>\u2019s SpaceX<\/a> has blasted 7,600 satellites into low-orbit, forming a \u2018mega-constellation\u2019 of metal.<\/p>\n These satellites, called Starlink, beam internet service down to the ground from low Earth orbit.<\/p>\n Most can swerve to avoid crashes, but a solar storm could be all it takes to knock out their navigation systems and cause a \u2018cascade\u2019 of crashes in less than three days, according to a new study<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 2018 \u2013 long before \u2018mega-constellations\u2019 of satellites became a thing \u2013 this level of chaos would have taken 121 days.<\/p>\n With all this metal above our heads, what astrophysicist Dr\u00a0Alfredo\u00a0Carpineti <\/a>says is what happens if even one satellite fails.<\/p>\n \u2018Well, space could get very dangerous,\u2019 the IFLScience writer tells Metro. <\/p>\n To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web \u2018One collision produces a cloud of debris and that debris can go on and hit other satellites and so on.\u2019<\/p>\n This is called the Kessler Syndrome, named for the former NASA<\/a> scientist Donald\u00a0Kessler, who feared that space junk could make low-orbit so cluttered that rockets would be unable to launch.<\/p>\n \u2018It could make entire regions of space dangerous to stay in and pass through,\u2019 Dr Carpineti adds. <\/p>\n Earth\u2019s atmosphere naturally pulls dead satellites down and incinerates them in the thicker lower atmosphere.<\/p>\n It\u2019s partly why people have woken up to rocket chunks in their gardens<\/a>, battery scraps punching through their roofs<\/a> and NASA telescopes flattening their farms<\/a>.<\/p>\n Increasing levels of carbon dioxide caused by climate change<\/a> are weakening this effect, however, so fewer items are being dragged down.<\/p>\n In a worst-case scenario, there will be five times more space junk<\/a> in the cosmos by 2100.<\/p>\n Dr Carpineti adds: \u2018If we lose control of a larger object coming back to earth because of space junk, then the situation might get dangerous.\u2019<\/p>\n Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n For more stories like this, check our news page<\/a>.<\/p>\n Arrow Arrow Arrow![\"In](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SEI_278385278-d889.jpg\")
\n\t\tAll the space hardware cluttering the cosmos weighs about 15,100 tonnes (Picture: ESA\/ID&Sense\/ONiRiXEL)<\/p>\n![\"Tiny](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SEI_278385208-fcf6.jpg\")
\n\t\tThe research will be carried out using the university\u2019s two-stage gas gun (Picture: University of Kent)
\nTech giants \u2013 and their rubbish \u2013 in space<\/p>\n
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