The International Space Station (ISS) by NASA had to face a possible evacuation of its astronauts because of space junk generated by Russia. Just days before, they had to dodge a piece of trash in space created by China.
Space debris was declared a threat to both astronauts and satellites back in 2011. But that hasn’t stopped more junk from occupying the Earth’s orbit. Every year, hundreds of satellites are sent into space. A lot of them have stopped functioning and are merely floating above. Some satellites collide with others and explode. The shattering of objects leaves small pieces of trash.
ASATs, weapons used to destroy satellites in space, are another cause for debris. For instance, space junk created by Russia that posed a threat to American astronomers was the result of an ASAT. Usually, ASAT is frowned upon in the astronomy community because of its contribution to space debris. Russia faced a lot of backlash for its recent endeavour, although they maintained that the satellite fragments did not pose any threat.
In the 1970s, the U.S and the Soviet Union experimented with ASATs. The debris created then is still floating in space. After the U.S. conducted its ASATs in 1985, no one else did–until 2007. But in that year, China directed an ASAT against a satellite weighing one tonne. That, too, caused large chunks of debris to move in space.
Some of the debris from space are in the lower altitudes. After a few years, they enter the Earth’s atmosphere, catch fire and are destroyed. However, the ones above 36,000 km pose a problem. They orbit around the place where communication and weather satellites are located.
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