space debris (Page 2)

Latest in space debris

An old Soviet-era rocket body almost collided with an errant military satellite, narrowly avoiding a huge disaster, according to tracking company LeoLabs.

Two Large Chunks of Space Debris Just Almost Collided in an Epic Disaster

By Victor Tangermann

China's got a lot of explaining to do after one of its rockets broke apart after being launched into orbit and spewed out dozens of pieces.

Chinese Official Squirms at Question About Rocket That Disintegrated in Orbit

By Noor Al-Sibai

ABC News reports that Chinese space debris from another one of the nation's Long March 5B rockets was just discovered at sea off the Philippines coastline.

Chinese Space Debris Crashes Down in the Philippines

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

A gigantic piece of a Chinese Long March 2D rocket has seemingly plummeted back down to Earth and lodged itself in a crop in the province of Gansu.

Large Chunk of Chinese Rocket Comes Crashing Down, Lodges in Field

By Victor Tangermann

The International Space Station had to ignite its thrusters for over five minutes to dodge pieces of the satellite Russia intentionally blew up last year.

Space Station Forced to Perform Huge Swerve to Avoid Debris From When Russia Blew Up a Satellite

By Victor Tangermann

Excess carbon dioxide is cooling the Earth's upper atmosphere, making it so that close-orbit objects like satellites and space junk stay in orbit longer.

Climate Change Is Apparently Doing Something Weird to Satellites

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

Pieces of a recently-launched Chinese Long March 5B rocket were reportedly discovered by Filipino fishermen in the island nation's Mindoro Strait.

Giant Pieces of Chinese Space Junk Reportedly Found by Fishermen

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

This weekend, China plans to launch a powerful Long March 5B rocket — and it's likely that parts of junk from the rocket will crash land back onto Earth.

China Is Sending More Space Junk Hurtling Down to Earth

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

NASA Spots Location Where Derelict Rocket Smashed Into the Moon

NASA Spots Location Where Derelict Rocket Smashed Into the Moon

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

Russia's Progress cargo spacecraft had to perform an unplanned engine burn to avoid debris left behind by one of the country's own satellites.

Russia Forced to Dodge Space Debris From When It Blew Up Satellite

By Victor Tangermann

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover spotted something interesting tucked into a boulder — but NASA confirmed it was just a regular ol' piece of human trash.

NASA Accuses NASA of Littering on Mars

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

A Russian rocket part, which has spent more than a decade in orbit, suddenly exploded into at least 16 potentially dangerous piece of space debris.

Ancient Russian Rocket Debris Suddenly Explodes in Orbit

By Victor Tangermann

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk reveled that some of the company's internet-beaming Starlink satellites had to swerve out of the way of space debris.

Elon Musk Says Starlink Satellites Had to Swerve Out of the Way of Debris

By Victor Tangermann

NASA postponed a spacewalk scheduled for today after receiving a "debris notification" for the International Space Station.

NASA Postpones Spacewalk Due to Deadly Debris

By Tony Ho Tran

University of Utah's Jake Abbott predicts the Earth could soon look a lot like Saturn. "Earth is on course to have its own rings" made out of space junk.

Professor Says Earth Is Forming Saturn-Like Rings Made of Space Junk

By Victor Tangermann

The astronauts of Crew-3 spotted something strange during their ISS docking on Thursday: a mysterious object floating past their craft.

International Space Station

SpaceX Astronauts Encounter Mystery Object During ISS Docking

By Tony Ho Tran

Steve Wozniak's new venture called Privateer may be a space junk cleanup company — something that makes a lot of sense right now.

This Clue May Show What Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak Is Doing in Space

By Victor Tangermann

A Chinese military satellite appears to have gotten smashed by a disintegrating Russian rocket, Space.com reports.

Space Junk Reportedly Smashed a Chinese Military Satellite

By Victor Tangermann

In a Saturday tweet, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk suggested that Starship might be a potential solution to the growing space junk problem.

Elon Musk Says New Spacecraft Will “Chomp Up” Space Junk

By Victor Tangermann

NASA administrator Bill Nelson has some strong feelings on the topic of space junk, as evidenced in a recent interview with CNN.

NASA Head Slams United States for “Shameful” Space Junk

By Victor Tangermann

According to a recently presented preprint, climate change may be making our space junk problem even worse.

Climate Change May Be Making Space Junk Worse

By Victor Tangermann

As a Chinese rocket plummets to Earth after launching a space station module, the US military is taking a bold "wait and see what happens" plan of attack.

Science & Energy

Secretary of Defense: We Will Not Shoot Down Plummeting Chinese Deathrocket

By Dan Robitzski

This morning's SpaceX launch went by without a hitch — but the crew of four did just experience a bit of a scare.

SpaceX’s Spacecraft Just Had a Near Collision With an Unidentified Object

By Victor Tangermann

The International Space Station recently jettisoned a nearly three ton piece of garbage into low Earth orbit. The trash is made up of old batteries.

The Space Station Just Released Its Largest Piece of Garbage Ever

By Tony Ho Tran

Russian physicist Egor Loktionov is suggesting to use space-based lasers to melt non-operational satellites into plasma as a way to clean up Earth's orbit.

Russian Scientist Proposes Using Lasers to Melt Space Junk

By Victor Tangermann

The European Space Agency is planning to launch a massive claw designed to clean up larger pieces of space junk.

Europe Is Launching a Giant Claw to Grab Space Junk

By Victor Tangermann

According to a TIME interview with SpaceX's president and COO Gwynne Shotwell, Starship could be used to help dispose of "dead rocket bodies" in orbit.

SpaceX President: Starship Could Help Pick Up Space Junk

By Victor Tangermann

The European Space Agency's Space Debris Office is warning that the risk of space debris explosions in orbit is on the rise.

Space Debris Trackers Warn of “Explosions in Orbit”

By Victor Tangermann

Space debris could pose an even bigger threat than we thought, thanks to new research that found smaller pieces of junk that were never cataloged.

Science & Energy

Research: Most Geosynchronous Space Junk Has Never Been Catalogued

By Dan Robitzski

The United States Space Force plans to swear NASA astronaut Michael Hopkins into its ranks during a ceremony aboard the International Space Station.

Science & Energy

The International Space Station Had to Dodge a Piece of Space Junk Last Night

By Dan Robitzski

Thanks to powerful new lasers, scientists can now observe space debris orbiting the Earth during the daytime and better predict their paths.

Science & Energy

Scientists Saw Space Debris During the Day for the First Time

By Dan Robitzski

Russia's space agency Roscosmos announced on Sunday that the tanks of the Russian Fregat-SB upper stage have disintegrated in Earth's orbit.

Russian Rocket Disintegrates in Space, Leaving Orbital Debris

By Victor Tangermann

There's a small chance that a defunct space habitat collides with a retired Russian satellite on Wednesday, illustrating the threat of space debris.

Science & Energy

A Derelict Space Habitat May Crash Into an Old Russian Satellite

By Dan Robitzski

Debris created by India's anti-satellite test are still circling the Earth four months later, putting spacecraft and other satellites in danger.

Debris From the Satellite India Blew Up Still Polluting Orbit

By Victor Tangermann

Six weeks after Indian authorities promised all of the debris created by their missile test was burned up in the atmosphere, 41 out of 400 pieces remain.

Dangerous Debris From India’s Exploded Satellite Still Orbiting Earth

By Victor Tangermann

A team of engineers at the University of Surrey launched a 4.9 foot harpoon from a satellite at a piece of space debris to catch it out of the sky.

Watch a Harpoon Attached to a Satellite Spear a Piece of Space Debris

By Victor Tangermann

Scientists Want to Use a Plasma Beam to Push Space Junk Out of Orbit

Scientists Want to Use a Plasma Beam to Push Space Junk Out of Orbit

By Kristin Houser

UK researchers are now testing RemoveDEBRIS, a satellite designed to trap space debris in a net so it can be removed before it damages spacecraft.

UK Researchers Just Deployed a Massive Net to Catch Space Debris

By Kristin Houser

An Experimental Space Junk Collector Is On Its Way to the ISS

An Experimental Space Junk Collector Is On Its Way to the ISS

By Claudia Geib

The Chinese Space Station Has Crashed in the Pacific. Why Was It So Hard to Track?

The Chinese Space Station Has Crashed in the Pacific. Why Was It So Hard to Track?

By Claudia Geib

Guess What, Rich People: Meteor Showers on Demand Are a Terrible Idea

Guess What, Rich People: Meteor Showers on Demand Are a Terrible Idea

By Claudia Geib

space debris space junk

Reconsidering Space Debris: Can Space Junk Be Useful?

orbital laser stations

Researchers Propose Using Lasers to Zap Potentially Dangerous Space Debris

By Chelsea Gohd

China Has Lost Control of a Space Station. Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Worry.

China Has Lost Control of a Space Station. Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Worry.

space debris spacecraft atmosphere

A Spacecraft Thinner Than Human Hair Wraps Up and Destroys Space Debris

By Claudia Geib

Startup Gets Funding to Clean Up Our Orbital Space Junk

Startup Gets Funding to Clean Up Our Orbital Space Junk

By Christianna Reedy

500,000 Pieces of Space Junk Are Orbiting the Earth. Here’s How We Can Get Rid of Them.

500,000 Pieces of Space Junk Are Orbiting the Earth. Here’s How We Can Get Rid of Them.

By Patrick Caughill

Tiangong-1: China’s Space Station Is Going to Crash and Reenter Earth’s Atmosphere

Tiangong-1: China’s Space Station Is Going to Crash and Reenter Earth’s Atmosphere