There's space junk in the sky. And there's space junk in the sea.
In the 60 years since people have been sending technology into space, the Earth's orbit has started to resemble a cosmic landfill. According to the European Space Agency, there are 34,000 "debris objects" in orbit that are larger than 10 centimetres, 900,000 debris objects between one and 10 centimetres — and a staggering 128 million debris objects ranging from one millimetre to one centimetre in size. In all, more than 8,800 tonnes of objects are drifting in the inky darkness around our planet.
This “orbital debris” ranges from intact satellites to bits of satellites to parts of rockets and other small pieces that have detached from larger items, whether by accident or on purpose as part of launch procedures. These objects cost billions of dollars to put there — and often it’s cheaper to leave them floating around than to maintain or retrieve them.