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///@astrotaner: Forget Alien Invasions – Space Junk is the Real Menace from Space! 😔🚀The amount of space debris in orbit continues to rise.More than 30 000 pieces of space debris have been recorded and are regularly tracked by space surveillance networks. As our technology improves, we are spotting an increasing number of unidentified objects (UI). Due to the time elapsed between their creation and our observation, it is difficult to trace their origins to a specific “fragmentation event”.Based on ESA models, the true number of objects larger than 1 cm in size is likely over one million.The increase in launch traffic and the long-lasting nature of space debris in low-Earth orbit is causing a significant number of close encounters, known as "conjunctions", between active satellites and other objects in heavily congested orbits.However, one positive note for the debris environment is that many rocket bodies launched today to deliver satellites into low-Earth orbit are disposed of sustainably. Some are burned up using a “controlled reentry” into Earth’s atmosphere, while others are placed in orbits that naturally decay within 25 years.While we may be more responsible with what we launch today, our current efforts are not enough.If we don’t significantly change the way we use launch, fly and dispose of space objects, the number of catastrophic in-space collisions could rise.Long term, this could lead to “Kessler Syndrome”, the situation in which the density of objects in orbit is high enough that collisions between objects and debris create a cascade effect, each crash generating debris that then increases the likelihood of further collisions. At this point, certain low-Earth orbits will become entirely inhospitable.Source: @europeanspaceagency Link: https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Space_Debris/ESA_s_Space_Environment_Report_2022 Also, if you think i made up that debris representational image by myself, check this out.https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/news/orbital_debris.htmlvia