Junk is All Around Us

April 16, 2008 - 2,633 views

And space didn’t get away from the junk. The European Space Agency (ESA) has released a computer-generated picture depicting our planet surrounded by millions of pieces of space junk. Seems like soon Saturn won’t be the only planet with a ring around it. The spacial junk yard is constantly travelling at 20,000 miles above the Earth.

Much of it is junk with telecommunications equipment that once cost millions now past its sell-by date yet still in orbit. ESA says the number of objects in Earth’s atmosphere has risen steadily increasing by 200 per year on average and that there are now 600 working satellites.

Space Junk Map