8/3/2019 Infographic: Space junk

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In 1996, a French satellite was hit and damaged by debris froma French rocket that had exploded a decade earlier.

On Feb. 10, 2009, a defunct Russian satellite collided with anddestroyed a functioning U.S. Iridium commercial satellite. Thecollision added more than 2,000 pieces of trackable debris tothe inventory of space junk.

Chinas 2007 anti-satellite test, which used a missile to destroyan old weather satellite, added more than 3,000 pieces to thedebris problem.

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On Nov. 9, 2011, Russias Phobos-Grunt waslaunched, but was lost due to propulsion failureand stuck in the low-earth orbit (LEO). It isspeculated that this piece of debris will fall backto Earth on Jan. 15.

Having space debris fall out of the sky isnt sucha shocking experience anymore theres morethan 500,000 pieces of debris orbiting the Earth.

Projected numbersof orbital space junk

1 9 5 0

7 0

9 0

2 0 1 0

3 0

5 0

7 0

9 0

2 1 1 0

3 0

5 0

7 0

9 0

2 2 1 0

12,000

10,000

8,000

6,000

4,000

2,000

0

Total

Collision fragments

Explosion fragments

Intacts & mission-related debris

Orbital debris:Any man-made object in orbit aroundEarth which no longer serves a useful purpose.Includes:

Derelict spacecraft Debris released during spacecraft mission operations Debris from spacecraft explosions or collisions Tiny ecks of paint

84%

25,000 km/hSpeed at which debris travels

(fast enough for a relatively smallpiece of orbital debris to damage a

satellite or a spacecraft)

of debris isapproximately800 kms out.

Debris at800 km will

stay in orbit fordecades.

Debris

in orbit below600 km normallyfall back to Earth

within several years.

Even tiny paint ecks candamage a spacecraft when travelingat these velocities. In fact a number of spaceshuttle windows have been replaced becauseof damage caused by material that was

analyzed and shown to be paint ecks.

8,000pieces of debrisorbit the earth

Fragmentation &inactive satellites

Operational satellites

Rocket bodies

7%

15%

78%

Debris higherthan 1,000 kmwill continuecircling Earth

for a century ormore.

A bou t 8,000 or b i t ing man-made

o b jec ts larger t han 4 are

curren t l y be ing trac ked b y t he

U.S. Space Sur ve i l lance Ne t wor k.

T here are m i l l ions more,

a l t houg h t he y are to sma l l to be

trac ked.

Image o f space jun k in

lo w-ear t h or b i t

SUSAN BATSFORD, GRAPHICS EDITOR,TWITTER @SBATS1; I NFOGRAPHIC BY TARA CORRAN/QMI AGENCYSources: NASA; United States Space Surveillance Network