Major contributors to space debris include the explosion of upper stages and satellite collisions.[1]

Overview

There were 190 known satellite breakups between 1961 and 2006.[2] By 2015, the total had grown to 250 on-orbit fragmentation events.[3]

As of 2012 there were an estimated 500,000 pieces of debris in orbit,[4] with 300,000 pieces below 2000 km (LEO).[1] Of the total, about 20,000 are tracked.[1] Also, about sixteen old Soviet nuclear space reactors are known to have released an estimated 100,000 NaK liquid metal coolant droplets 800–900 km up,[5] which range in size from 1 – 6 cm.[5]

The greatest risk to space missions is from untracked debris between 1 and 10 cm in size.[1] Large pieces can be tracked and avoided, and impact from smaller pieces are usually survivable.[1]

Top debris creation events

Top debris creation events, December 2022[6]
ObjectYearPiecesNotes
Fengyun-1C20073,549Intentional collision (ASAT)
Kosmos 225120091,716Accidental collision with Iridium 33
Kosmos 140820211,562Intentional collision (ASAT)
STEP 2 Rocket Body1996756Residual propellant explosion
Iridium 332009659Accidental collision with Kosmos 2251
Kosmos 24212008511Disintegrated
SPOT 1 Rocket Body1986506Residual propellant explosion
Parus1981482Battery explosion
OV2-1 Rocket Body1965473Engine explosion
Nimbus 4 Rocket Body1970465Residual propellant explosion
NOAA-162015458Battery explosion
TES Rocket Body2001373Residual propellant explosion
CBERS 1 Rocket Body2000344Residual propellant explosion
Fregat tank2020338Residual propellant explosion
Ablestar1961320Residual propellant explosion
Delta 29101975313Residual propellant explosion
Solwind1985289Intentional collision (ASAT) [7]

Recent events

DateObjectInternational DesignationCauseTotal PiecesPieces in OrbitReentered Pieces as of Dec 2022[lower-alpha 1]
August 31, 2018Centaur V upper stage [8]2014-055BUnknown [8]1071070
December 22, 2018ORBCOMM FM-16 [8]1998-046EEnergetic fragmentation; Probably caused by left over propellent [9]1358
January 24, 2019Microsat-R [9]2019-006AASAT (Anti-Satellite) weapon system test [9]1290129
February 6, 2019H2-A 202 Rocket Body [8]2018-084LUnknown; Third known breakup of an H-2A Rocket Body[8]606
February 6, 2019H2-A 202 Payload Adapter [8]2018-084EEnergetic fragmentation event; Cause Unknown[8]303
April 2019Centaur V Rocket Body[9]2018-079BEnergetic fragmentation event; Cause Unknown[9]1931921
May 7, 2019Titan IIIC Transtage rocket body[10]1976-023FEnergetic fragmentation event by caused the overheating of leftover anhydrous hydrazine(N2H4) Mono Propellant [10]?[lower-alpha 2]??
August 19, 2019SOZ (Sistema Obespecheniya Zapuska) ullage motor from a Proton Block DM fourth stage[10]2010-041HEnergetic fragmentation event; caused by left over fuel in the ullage motor. 30th fragmentation event of a SOZ unit. 34 intact units remain in orbit[10]23230
August 13, 2019Ariane 42P third stage rocket body[10]1992-052DUnknown [10]10100
December 23, 2019Kosmos 24912013-076EUnknown[11][12]~20~200
May 8, 2020Fregat tank [13]2011-037BUnknown, possibly explosion [13]34628066
July 12, 2020H2-A 202 Fairing [13]2018-084CCollision with untracked debris [13]1235118
March 18, 2021Yunhai-1 02[14]2019-063AAccidental collision with a fragment from the Zenit-2 rocket body that launched Tselina-2 in 1996.[14]392019
November 15, 2021Kosmos 14081982-092AASAT (Anti-Satellite) weapon system test17873941393
November 12, 2022Long March 6A upper stage2022-151BUnknown[15]3503491
November 17, 2022H2-A 202 Payload fairing2012-025FEnergetic fragmentation event; Cause unknown[16]50+50+0
January 4, 2023Kosmos 24992014-028EUnknown[12]85850
March 11, 2023Orbcomm F361999-065EUnknown; likely energetic fragmentation event caused by a malfunction in the hydrazine orbit adjust system[17][18]770
August 21, 2023Vega VV02 VESPA adapter2013-021DUnknown; likely debris impact[19][20]770
  1. ↑ The date when all rows were updated.
  2. ↑ No fragments have entered the SSN catalog as 2022-09-22

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 The Threat of Orbital Debris and Protecting NASA Space Assets from Satellite Collisions (2009)
  2. ↑ "AN ANALYSIS OF RECENT MAJOR BREAKUPS IN THE LOW EARTH ORBIT REGION". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2013-05-04.
  3. ↑ "ESA Experts Assess Risk from Exploded Satellite". www.esa.int. ESA. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  4. ↑ "DARPA wants army of networked amateur astronomers to watch sky for space junk, aliens". Stratrisks. 2012-11-14. Archived from the original on 2012-11-19.
  5. 1 2 IEEE – The Growing Threat of Space Debris Archived 2013-01-27 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ McDowell, Jonathan (9 Dec 2022). "Space Debris Clouds". Jonathan's Space Pages. Retrieved 10 Dec 2022.
  7. ↑ December 2016, Space com Staff 21 (21 December 2016). "The Most Dangerous Space Weapons Ever". Space.com. Retrieved 2021-04-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (May 2019). "Orbital Debris Quarterly News" (PDF). Space News. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (August 2019). "Orbital Debris Quarterly News" (PDF). Space News. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (November 2019). "Orbital Debris Quarterly News" (PDF). Space News. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  11. ↑ @planet4589 (January 12, 2020). "Unlike the two later sats, Kosmos-2491 did not change its orbit. It appeared to end its mission in 2014. However, at about 1321 UTC on 2019 Dec 23, the satellite made a 1.5m/s orbit change and 10 debris objects have now been cataloged" (Tweet). Retrieved 8 February 2023 – via Twitter.
  12. 1 2 Berger, Eric (8 February 2023). "Mysterious Russian satellites are now breaking apart in low-Earth orbit". Ars Technica. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
  13. 1 2 3 4 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (August 2020). "Orbital Debris Quarterly News" (PDF). NASA. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  14. 1 2 Wall, Mike (17 August 2021). "Space collision: Chinese satellite got whacked by hunk of Russian rocket in March". Space.com. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  15. ↑ @18thSDS (November 13, 2022). "18th Space Defense Squadron confirmed breakup associated with CZ-6A Rocket Body - likely occurred Nov 12 at around 05:25 UTC" (Tweet). Retrieved 13 November 2022 – via Twitter.
  16. ↑ @18thSDS (November 23, 2022). "18th Space Defense Squadron confirms breakup of H-2A DEB (#38345, 2012-025F)" (Tweet). Retrieved 10 December 2022 – via Twitter.
  17. ↑ Orbital Focus [@OrbitalFocus] (March 17, 2023). "From Space-Track: The 18th Space Defense Squadron (18 SDS) has confirmed the breakup of Orbcomm FM 36 (#25984, 1999-065E), which likely occurred March 11, 2023, at approximately 0145 UTC. As of March 16, 18 SDS is tracking 7 associated pieces at an estimated 792 km altitude..." (Tweet). Retrieved 21 March 2023 – via Twitter.
  18. ↑ @planet4589 (March 17, 2023). "The jump is a propulsive orbit adjust, which makes the likeliest cause some kind of bad event in the hydrazine orbit adjust system" (Tweet). Retrieved 21 March 2023 – via Twitter.
  19. ↑ Jonathan McDowell [@planet4589] (August 22, 2023). "7 new debris objects cataloged from the Vega VV02 launch in a 23:50 LTDN sun-sync orbit, consistent with a breakup of the VESPA adapter upper section, object 39162. Possibly the result of an impact by a small object?" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  20. ↑ "Objects detected in the vicinity of ClearSpace-1 debris removal mission target". ESA. 22 August 2023. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
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