It turns out that at least half of what orbits Earth is junk. And that’s only what we can see

Nearly half of trackable objects in Earth orbit are space debris, according to public data analysis.

The report estimates 17,682 of 33,269 trackable objects are satellites, with the rest classified as debris.

Millions of smaller, untracked fragments likely remain in orbit, raising the risk of collisions and cascading impacts.

The growing debris field threatens satellites, crewed missions, and critical services such as GPS and communications.