By Stephanie Dwilson | 2025-01-28

Space debris poses a danger on a global scale because of sparse regulation and the United Nations (UN) needs to take measures to help ensure the integrity of Earth's orbit, according to a research report.

"Waste is not just a problem on the Earth's surface. Earth's orbit is now accumulating orbital debris, largely due to increasing satellite use," an international group of researchers led by NASA, the University of Plymouth in the UK and the University of Texas said in a paper published January 9 in One Earth.

Satellite networks have societal benefits, such as monitoring ecosystems, supporting global communications and facilitating many daily actions, including satellite television and contactless bank card payments, the report said.

"The orbital environment supported an estimated $469 billion of human activity in 2021. To take just one segment of orbital activity, a failure of global positioning systems (GPSs) would cause a daily loss of $6.3 billion to the UK economy," it added.

Recognizing the growing risks, the researchers urge the United Nations to make safeguarding the Earth orbit one of its chief sustainable goals.

The UN member states in 2015 adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a universal call to 2030 as a "blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all," report said.

The researchers now are calling for an 18th SDG that "will increase awareness about the use of orbital resources and the growing risks of orbital pollution while sending a strong message that Earth's orbit is not disconnected from Earth," it added.

Disaster-level risk

The paper highlights the dangers that space junk can pose. In addition to the physical danger to people, debris also can cause radio interference, satellite information loss and increased night sky brightness, the report said.

If it accumulates to a high enough degree, it can create a "Kessler syndrome," where debris collisions create more debris, rendering portions of the Earth's orbit unusable, it added.

The European Space Agency (ESA) Space Debris Office reported that as of September 20, 2024, about 19,590 satellites have been launched into Earth's orbit.

Of these, an estimated 13,230 remain in orbit, while about 10,200 are still functioning. The total mass of all space objects in Earth's orbit is greater than 13,000 tons.

"These figures will rapidly increase due to mass-produced small satellites (cube-sats), also referred to as 'mega-constellations,'" the report said.

Mega-constellations are groupings of satellites that provide broadband internet use and are placed in low Earth orbit (LEO).

Because of this surge in mega-constellations, "thousands of deorbiting satellites will slowly pass through the same congested space, posing collision risks to each other," the report said.

US Senate takes action

A 2024 "Interconnected Disaster Risk" report published by United Nations University noted that out of more than 34,000 objects tracked in orbit, only 25% are not junk.

This number does not account for about 130 million pieces of debris that are too small to track, it added.

In the United States, a number of politicians are recognizing this danger.

In November 2023, the Senate passed the Orbital Sustainability (ORBITS) Act. This bipartisan bill would establish a program to reduce the amount of space junk in orbit.

Rep. Joe Neguse introduced a related ORBITS Act to the House in July 2024.

"It is imperative that the United States maintains dominance in space exploration to ensure our national security remains intact," he said in a press release. "However, the growing number of debris objects in space are threatening military missions and business expenditures."

The Act was referred to the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.