Garbage such as used satellites, rocket parts, and collision debris have been accumulating since the space age began, and the problem has accelerated in recent decades.
“We are entering an era in which many satellites will be launched one after the other. Space will be increasingly occupied,” said Miki Ito, CEO of Astroscale, a company dedicated to space sustainability. “.
“There are simulations that suggest the space will not be able to be used if we continue like this,” he told AFP. “So we need to improve the celestial environment before it’s too late.”
The European Space Agency (ESA) estimates that about a million pieces of debris larger than an inch, large enough to “deactivate a spacecraft”, are in Earth orbit.