SMRTR Science & EngineeringMay 13, 2026Scientific American

Almost half of the objects in Earth's orbit is junk—and that's only the stuff we know about

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Nearly 47% of Earth's 33,269 tracked orbital objects is space junk, with debris growing by 10,000 objects since 2020. Millions of untracked fragments travel at 17,000+ mph, threatening satellites and astronauts.

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