The issue of increasing volume of human- generated space debris

Introduction
Space debris or “space junk” is a growing problem as currently there is a 50%
chance of spacecrafts colliding with orbital debris. Orbital Space Debris can range
from paint fragments to parts of spacecrafts coming off. Due to space debris
travelling at high velocities of 17,500 mph the collision between space-debris and
spacecrafts causes drastic damage to the crafts. With the growing number of space-
debris pieces increasing this is a growing problem that needs to be solved.
The collision of two spacecrafts creates more space debris as seen with the collision
of a functioning US satellite and a defunct Russian satellite which released over
2,000 pieces of debris. Pieces of debris vary in size and often small fragments of
debris are untraceable due to their small size but still cause harm to spacecrafts.
Windows of spacecrafts are damaged by debris and this threatens astronauts lives if
the window of a space shuttle is hit.
With the more spacecrafts being launched into the earth’s orbit the more this adds to
the space-debris. However, with more countries launching satellites and other
aircrafts, this is dramatically increasing the debris in the environment and the
probability of collisions in space.
Space debris poses a threat to satellites and any other spacecraft in space. It also
can affect us, since it can hit GPS systems, military technology and more. Russia,
China, the United States, India, the UK and France have significant responsibilities
for this issue, but space debris impacts all countries across the world.

Useful sources
https://interestingengineering.com/the-growing-problem-of-space-debris
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/news/orbital_debris.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itdYS9XF4a0
https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/space/2019/04/space-junk-huge-problem-and-
its-only-getting-bigger
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/news/orbital_debris.html

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/11/space-debris-satellite-international-space-station

https://www.inverse.com/science/what-is-kessler-syndrome

Questions to consider
 Should there be a new process before satellites go into space?
 Should we, the UN, be tackling this issue when other problems are more immediate?
 Who should be paying for this cleanup?
 Are ‘shields’ which absorb the impact of the ‘bullet,’ reliable?
 Can we rely on tracking technology to tell us where the space debris is?
 Are naturally occurring ‘clean up’ events of space debris, like solar storms that
densify the atmosphere which can help a little with space debris, enough that we
don’t need to worry about it?
 Does space debris-removing technologies work? How can we improve them?
 Are there ways to just stop emitting space debris?