If space debris is not cleaned up, what risks will humans face?

According to the European Space Agency (ESA), space debris is gradually becoming a threat to all activities in Earth's orbit.

Space junk is any unused man-made object that exists in space, including equipment that has been launched or abandoned. Examples include rockets, defunct satellites, and even personal items that astronauts accidentally drop, such as gloves, cameras, or spatulas. Photo: Alamy.

According to ESA, as of now, there are about 40,000 objects monitored in Earth orbit. Of these, only about 11,000 are active satellites. Photo: ESA.

The rest is mostly space junk, including 54,000 objects larger than 10 cm, 1.2 million pieces between 1 and 10 cm in size. Experts are particularly concerned about the 130 million small pieces of debris between 1 mm and 1 cm that are flying around the Earth at extremely high speeds. Photo: news.mit.edu.

Despite their small size, these pieces of debris can cause serious damage to satellites, even important structures such as the International Space Station (ISS) or the Hubble Telescope. Photo: University of Warwick/Mark Garlick.

ESA warns of a “Kessler chain” phenomenon, which occurs when a collision creates more debris, leading to further collisions and creating an out-of-control chain reaction. Image: NASA/JSC/Orbital Debris Program Office.

"With a series of satellites, rocket stages and debris left behind after each launch, the space around our planet is covered with a large number of unused objects that pose a risk of causing dangerous collisions," ESA warned. Photo: Getty Images.

Space debris also poses a threat to all activities in Earth orbit. In particular, they can damage the ionosphere or magnetosphere, also known as the planet's plasma environment. Photo: NASA Orbital Debris Program Office.

When floating in space, space debris can crash into active satellites, causing major damage or even causing them to stop working. Photo: NASA.

Space debris can then fall back to Earth, posing a danger to humans and other animals and plants. In 1997, a woman was injured when a piece of metal fell from the sky and hit her on the shoulder. Photo: Shutterstock.

Readers are invited to watch the video : Universe map with more than 900,000 stars, galaxies and black holes. Source: THĐT1.

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