It is hard to imagine that there is now an abundant waste problem in space. However, this worries scientists.
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A team of international researchers reported the situation in an open letter published in the journal Science on March 9.
In 1957, there was only one man-made object in space: Sputnik, the first artificial satellite launched by the Soviet Union.
66 years later, some 100 trillion pieces of debris have caused space orbit problems by forming a belt in Earth’s orbit for at least three generations.
This number includes absolutely everything: missing screws, floating paint chips, and metal plates.
Currently, there are 9,000 satellites in orbit, and the number is expected to reach 60,000 by 2030, according to the researchers’ report.
This debris is not harmful. Indeed, at a speed of 28,200 km / h, these objects, despite their small size, can hit a spacecraft violently like a projectile.
Astronauts must regularly find a safe area when a swarm of debris crosses their path.
Ordinarily, all this debris would fall to Earth and burn up in the atmosphere, but we are replacing these pieces at a rate faster than their orbits can disintegrate.
Of particular concern is that it has taken centuries for humans to pollute the oceans and only decades for them to do the same in space.
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