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Russia has recently carried out a missile test and destroyed one of its own satellites. The action has caused international outrage as the test created up to 1,500 pieces of orbital space debris which could threaten the International Space Station (ISS) and satellites in low-Earth orbit. It's estimated there is close to 10,000 tonnes of hardware in orbit in space - much of it still active and useful, but the majority defunct and aimless. Almost 30,000 pieces of the larger pieces of debris are being tracked on a daily basis.

Moriba Jah, who leads the Computational Astronautical Sciences and Technologies Group, at the University of Texas, in Austin, explains what he saw when an exploding Russian satellite sent a shower of debris into the path of the International Space Station. He said that this will add to the volume of debris, noting that there are "tens of thousands of things whirling around in orbit", which include fragments from broken up satellites and "dead" satellites. The problem, he says, is something the ISS are used to having to contend with.

"Normalcy is now always watching out for debris."

Photo: Illustration of space debris circling the Earth Credit: Science Photo Library

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