Close icon
Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification.
Space junk is becoming an increasing concern.
Getty
The amount of space debris in Earth's orbit is increasing at an alarming rate.
This creates a number of dangers, including "Kessler syndrome": a theoretical scenario in which a single collision could set off a chain reaction.
With the rise of space debris comes the lucrative business of cleaning it up. Companies involved include Airbus, Astroscale, and ClearSpace.
Over the past two decades, the amount of space debris in orbit around the Earth has increased at an alarming rate of about 100 percent each decade. That's brought the total amount of space debris to well over 100 million pieces, and means a threat called the "Kessler syndrome" is inching very close to becoming a dangerous reality.