themindunleashed | By September of 2013, there were already more than 500,000 pieces of debris, or “space junk” orbiting Earth and that number is still increasing.
The bits of junk travel at speeds up to 17,500 mph—fast enough for a
relatively small piece of orbital debris to damage a satellite or a
spacecraft. This is also potential danger to space vehicles, but
especially to the International Space Station, space shuttles, and other
spacecraft with humans aboard.
“The greatest risk to space missions comes from non-trackable debris,” said Nicholas Johnson, NASA chief scientist for orbital debris.
As a result of this risk, the European Space Agency signed a debris-removal contract with Swiss startup ClearSpace tasking the company with de-orbiting a substantial piece of a Vega rocket left in orbit in 2013.
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