---
title: "Paper: The History of Space Debris"
id: 34228
type: "post"
slug: "paper-the-history-of-space-debris"
author: "NSE"
published: "2023-04-14T13:23:42+00:00"
modified: "2023-04-14T13:30:40+00:00"
canonical: "https://newspaceeconomy.ca/2023/04/14/paper-the-history-of-space-debris/"
markdown_url: "https://newspaceeconomy.ca/2023/04/14/paper-the-history-of-space-debris.md"
description: "This paper examines what space debris consists of, where it came from, and what problems it is causing."
language: "en-US"
category:
  - "Space Economy"
post_tag:
  - "International Space Station"
  - "NASA"
  - "Orbital Debris"
  - "Satellites"
  - "Space Stations"
---

# Paper: The History of Space Debris

![](https://i0.wp.com/newspaceeconomy.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/pexels-photo-3186574.jpg?resize=696%2C464&ssl=1)

## Abstract

In the past fifty-five years, the space around the Earth has gone from a virtually debris-free environment to a zone cluttered with man-made objects that threaten launches, active satellites, and the International Space Station (ISS). [NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/) reports that as of 2013, more than 21,000 pieces at least the size of a softball were being tracked, and an estimated 500,000 pieces at least the size of a marble are thought to exist. More than 100 million even smaller objects, ranging down to the size of a tiny fleck of paint, are too small to detect or track. Active satellites, numbering about 1,100, comprise about 6 percent of Earth-orbiting objects; the rest is junk, commonly called [space debris](https://newspaceeconomy.ca/2023/07/04/some-very-interesting-statistics-on-orbital-objects-and-debris/). This paper examines what space debris consists of, where it came from, and what problems it is causing.

![](https://i0.wp.com/newspaceeconomy.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/img_2965.jpg?resize=696%2C901&ssl=1)

[Download document](https://newspaceeconomy.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/the-history-of-space-debris.pdf)