Even in space, what goes up sometimes comes back down: spent rocket stages, defunct satellites and other bits of space debris ...

Given the mounting number of objects in orbit, this is likely to be a more regular occurrence. It's costly in terms of damage ...

Researchers are developing a real-life tractor beam, with the goal of pulling defunct satellites out of geostationary orbit ...

Specifically flagged by the UNEP are air pollution from launch emissions, spacecraft emissions in the stratosphere, as well ...

The problem of space debris isn't just a science fiction scenario anymore. It's a real threat that gets worse every year, and ...

The problem posed by human-made junk in space worsened significantly in 2024, according to a new report by the European Space Agency. The report follows a Chinese launch last August that raised alarms ...

Low Earth orbit has quietly become one of the most crowded and hazardous environments humanity has ever created, with an ...

A dead satellite can become a high-speed hazard in an orbit that is already packed with working spacecraft. That risk is why ...

Some problems grow quietly, almost politely, until they stop being ignorable. Space junk is one of those. It does not ...

Space environment health score shows how healthy - or stressed - Earth’s orbit is expected to become over the next 200 years.

As the number of satellites in Earth orbit increases, so too does the risk from space debris — and some experts warn certain orbits could already be getting dangerously crowded. The mass of debris in ...

At any given moment, more than 10,000 satellites are whizzing around the planet at roughly 17,000 miles per hour. This constellation of machinery is the technological backbone of modern life, making ...