In 1923, British physician Havelock Ellis famously wrote in The Dance of Life, "The sun, the moon and the stars would have disappeared long ago had they happened to be within the reach of the predatory human hands." He missed the Red Planet―Mars.

We have already destroyed Earth, the only inhabitable planet in the solar system, beyond repair. Today, we breathe polluted air, drink contaminated water and grow food on chemically modified soil. We are using our lungs as a receptacle for hundreds of noxious pollutants. As a result, our planet has transitioned from the Holocene Epoch to a new geological epoch known as the Anthropocene Epoch.

In the last 65 years, we succeeded in bringing the Moon and Mars within our reach. We polluted both these heavenly orbs, which not a single human inhabits, though not to the extent we damaged Earth. Since the first human-made object reached the Moon on September 13, 1959, namely the Soviet Luna 2 lander, we have dumped upward of 200,000 kilogrammes of refuse, such as moon buggies that were abandoned during the manned Apollo missions, scores of unmanned probes that have crashed or landed on the Moon, backpacks and personal hygiene kits of astronauts, and many more on the lunar surface.

Mars may be 140 million miles away, but it is also not immune from man-made trash. There are already well-nigh 7,000 kilogrammes of trash―broken and crashed spacecraft, parachutes, foams, discarded hardware and rover tracks―on the Martian surface, from 50 years of robotic exploration. Scientists don't know how cosmic radiation, ice action and dust storms—the conditions of another world—will affect these objects over time.

We almost made it to the Sun, 93 million miles away from Earth, by whizzing through its fiery atmosphere just 3.8 million miles above its surface. Thank heavens, other stars are still beyond our reach because they are light years away, but outer space in the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) is not.

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The eye in the sky that changed our view of the universe

The LEO, typically 160–2,000 kilometres above the Earth's surface, has long been a vital area for human activity in space, hosting satellites for communications, Earth observation, navigation and scientific research. The International Space Station (ISS) is among the most renowned entities in LEO, circling the Earth at an average altitude of 400 kilometres from the surface.

The predatory human hands converted the LEO into a junkyard, a dumping ground for space debris left over from six decades of space exploration. There are millions of pieces of space junk flying around in LEO. The majority of space debris consists of man-made items, including fragments of spacecraft, small paint particles from these vehicles, components of rockets, defunct satellites and remnants from explosions of objects that are orbiting at high velocities, potentially reaching speeds of up to 28,000 kilometres per hour.

The scenario in which space debris collides and creates more debris is called Kessler Syndrome, named after the NASA scientist Donald Kessler, who alerted us to this problem in 1978. More specifically, Kessler describes a situation in which if the density of space debris reaches a critical threshold, it will lead to a chain reaction of collisions in LEO that could envelop the planet in a debris field. This cascading phenomenon of space debris poses a significant risk of making LEO too clogged for satellites to orbit safely, or for launching future space missions.

As the number of satellites in orbit increases―about 110 new launches each year and at least 10 satellites or other objects a year breaking up into smaller fragments―the risk of severe collisions with space debris will escalate. The resulting consequences for all satellites and assets in space operating within a congested orbit, as well as for any spacecraft traversing these regions, will be disastrous. For example, the ISS has executed multiple evasive manoeuvres to steer clear of debris. In one recent incident, a piece of debris came within four kilometres of the ISS. Furthermore, these errant objects also endanger the safety of astronauts.

If, indeed, satellites collide or go offline because of overcrowded LEO, critical services like internet, navigation (GPS), weather forecasts, cell phones, television and other space-based technologies could fail. Needless to say, this will cause widespread disruption to modern life. Imagine life without social media!

According to the European Space Agency, there are more than 13 million kilogrammes of material in LEO. Some 35,000 objects are being monitored by space surveillance networks. Approximately 9,000 of these objects are operational payloads, while the remaining 26,000 consist of debris that exceeds 10 centimetres in size. However, the actual number of objects in space debris larger than one cm in size―large enough to be capable of causing catastrophic damage―is over one million.

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The global digital divide

An increasing number of these objects―an average of one piece per day―are falling back to Earth, failing to disintegrate upon re-entry as anticipated. A notable incident occurred in 1969 when five sailors on a Japanese vessel sustained injuries attributable to space debris from what was believed to be a Soviet spacecraft that struck the deck of their boat. More recently, in December 2024, a luminous metallic ring, exceeding eight feet in diameter and weighing over 500 kilogrammes, fell from the sky and crash-landed in a secluded village in Kenya. Luckily, no one was injured.

Space-faring nations that rely heavily on satellites are by far the major contributors to space debris. Despite the growing likelihood of satellite loss, they have not taken decisive action to address the issue of junk in the LEO. Besides, they have no incentive to reduce debris generation except to protect their own spacecraft, which they do with shields.

It is important to note that space debris is not the responsibility of a single nation; rather, it is a shared obligation among all countries engaged in space exploration. Hence, it is imperative that for the common good of both humanity and the environment in the LEO, we should tackle Kessler Syndrome head-on.

Unfortunately, due to a lack of initiatives aimed at reducing the accumulation of space debris, the clutter persists in increasing. The situation has escalated to the point where we are staring at "an unsustainable environment in the long term." Historical precedents indicate that all is not lost; we have previously come together in the face of considerable challenges.

Dr Quamrul Haider is professor Emeritus at Fordham University in New York, USA.

Views expressed in this article are the author's own.

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