Space Debris

COLORADO SPRINGS – It would cost a little under $4 million to retrieve the 24-kilogram Thor Altair rocket body from low-Earth orbit. The price tag for nabbing NASA’s defunct Cosmic Background Explorer, weighing in at 2245 kilograms, is $62.5 million, according to a deck of cards Kall Morris Inc. handed…

Home News Spaceflight An illustration of a object breaking up in Earth's orbit. (Image credit: European Space Agency) The fast-growing space debris issue is top of mind at a new space-focused division of the U.S. government. "Satellite and orbital debris rules" will be one of the primary responsibilities of the…

Aerospace companies and experts are calling on governments around the world to adopt a ‘highway code’ to help tackle the increasing problem of space junk. It is estimated there are more than 36,000 objects in space larger than 10cm, and 130million between 1mm and 1cm. All are moving at speeds…

Credit: ESA Since time immemorial, humans around the world have gazed up in wonder at the night sky. The starry night sky has not only inspired countless works of music, art and poetry, but has also played an important role in timekeeping, navigation and agricultural practices in many traditions. For…

The swift rise of internet satellites, forming megaconstellations, and accumulating space junk are already starting to mess with astronomers’ research. The problem is growing exponentially, scientists warn in a series of papers published recently in the journal Nature Astronomy. And they want regulators to do something about it. The swarm…

Weeks after a balloon, an “octagonal structure” and other flying objects put Americans on edge, the US is dealing with another mysterious phenomenon in the sky. On Friday night in Sacramento, St Patrick’s Day partiers spotted streaks of light blazing a path through the California night. A video posted to…

Home News Spaceflight NASA and other entities are looking to clean up space debris around Earth before it gets severe, as shown in this illustration. (Image credit: EvgeniyShkolenko via iStock / Getty Images Plus) A new NASA report finds the space debris problem could be greatly reduced in as little…

cape canaveral, florida —  Four space station astronauts returned to Earth late Saturday after a quick SpaceX flight home. Their capsule splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico just off the Florida coast near Tampa. The U.S.-Russian-Japanese crew spent five months at the International Space Station, arriving last October. Besides…

Home News An illustration of space junk, or space debris (Image credit: Shutterstock) There's a floating garbage dump orbiting Earth, and it's getting fuller every year.  Space debris — known colloquially as space junk — is the name that scientists give to the thousands of pieces of broken satellites and…

A group of scientists want a legally-binding treaty to ensure Earth’s orbit isn’t irreparably harmed. Published March 9, 2023 02:14PM EST Houston, we have a problem. The world generates 2.01 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste annually, with landfills groaning under the stress. We've delivered more than 170 trillion plastic…