But exactly how much space junk is there on Earth?
How much space junk is there?
According to data provided by NASA, currently around our planet there are more than 20,000 shards waste that is larger than a baseball.
But it is not only that, since they are also in orbit more than half a million pieces of waste that have the same dimensions as a marble. Along with all these pieces, there are also more than 100 million shards less than one millimeter in size.
All this space junk It can be a big problem when carrying out different space missions. When launching from Earth, if a rocket passes through an area where the concentration of garbage is higher, it can put the integrity of the ship at risk and the safety of the people inside.
However, space companies are taking action on the matter and establishing some measures to avoid generating more space debris, such as reducing the number of objects that are sent into space that can become garbage or studying and measuring these objects by using both telescopes and radars.
Just by looking at an image of the waste around our planet you realize the gravity of the situation.
Also, different companies like SpaceX or Blue Origin plan to do different space missions in the next few years, which could lead to a increased amount of garbage what’s in space.
Different methods to eliminate space debris
However, the same company of Elon Musk assured that with his Starship ship he will be able to collect space junk and store it indoors from the ship smoothly until its return to Earth, thanks to a system of doors that opens and closes.
Other types of mechanisms have also been tried to try to reduce the amount of garbage that is orbiting the Earth, such as the use of a satellite that acted like a magnet and drew debris towards him. The use of robotic satellites that they take care of taking the space debris and exorbitant it is also a possibility.
What is clear is that a solution must be found before the situation gets worse. As an engineer from the European Space Agency said, sooner or later the space will be a landfill and that will cause that satellites cannot be used.