As of early 2026, there are around 15,800 tonnes of space junk floating in the atmosphere – equivalent to the weight of roughly 40 jumbo jets
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When we picture space, we tend to imagine Earth rotating in a vast, largely empty void. In reality, though, it is increasingly cluttered with debris and waste being generated at a pace scientists and engineers can no longer ignore.
Currently, 33,269 tracked objects are in orbit – comprised of 17,682 satellites, 2,396 rocket bodies, 12,550 debris fragments and 641 unassigned objects. This means that nearly 47 per cent of tracked objects are space junk.
However, if you take into account smaller fragments, the debris count rises to tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions. According to the European Space Industry, the total mass of objects in Earth’s orbit exceeded 15,800 tonnes – equivalent to roughly 40 jumbo jets.
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Objects in orbit travel at around 28,000 kilometres per hour, and at this velocity, collisions can be serious. Even a paint fleck can damage windows – as seen on the International Space Station – and a fragment of one centimetre or more could entirely disable operational spacecraft.
The danger isn’t necessarily how much debris remains in space, but the density and velocity of such debris. As more objects fill Earth’s orbit, the chance of them colliding increases. These collisions cause more debris, which in turn creates more collisions, creating a chain reaction known as Kessler Syndrome. This could continue until the entire orbital space is littered with space junk, spelling bad news for satellites and future missions.
Just three actors account for 96 per cent of the 12,550 debris objects currently in orbit, with 12,041 of these attributed to China, the US and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
In particular, China’s contribution to space junk is largely thanks to the 2007 Chinese anti-satellite test, widely recognised as one of the worst debris-generating events in the history of the space age. It destroyed one of its own satellites using a ballistic missile launched from Xichang Space Launch Centre, leading to more than 3,000 pieces of space debris being produced.
The CIS’s contribution reflects decades of space activity, while the US’s figure results from a long-standing launch programme and the 2009 collision between the derelict Russian satellite Kosmos 2251 and the active Iridium 33 satellite. According to the US Space Surveillance Network, hundreds of debris fragments from both satellites still remain in orbit more than a decade after the collision occurred.
Despite its name, space debris isn’t just an orbital issue – it remains a serious concern for the environment on Earth. That’s because materials such as aluminium, lithium and copper vaporise into fine particles upon re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere, and they stay in the upper atmosphere. Currently, these particles are being studied for their potential impact on atmospheric chemistry. Across time, they can also accumulate as metallic aerosols, forming a growing layer of man-made particles in the upper atmosphere.
Who is helping to remove space debris?
There is currently no large-scale operation to remove space debris, but significant investment is being made to reduce the problem.
The largest investors in space debris removal are governments and space agencies. These include the European Space Agency, which funds ClearSpace-1 – the world’s first active debris removal mission – as well as the UK Space Agency, JAXA of Japan, and NASA, which focuses on tracking systems and on-orbit servicing.
To clean up debris, a range of technologies are used, such as satellites equipped with robotic arms to move or deorbit debris, as well as harpoons and electrodynamic tethers that use the Earth’s magnetic field to pull debris out of orbit without the use of fuel.
Emerging start-ups are also paving the way to developing new approaches to debris removal.
