People manage to litter even in space, about 25 thousand large waste equipment and millions of small particles freely rotate in orbit around the Earth, and this threatens collisions with working satellites and stations.
About 40 objects weigh more than two tons. Accordingly, the problem threatens the stable operation of the Internet, navigation, climate, and geographic satellite systems.
Space debris is the remnants of human activity: broken satellites, rocket stages, instruments, debris, waste products. These objects do not always burn up in the atmosphere; cases of their falling to Earth, including on humans, have been recorded.
Objects larger than one centimeter are dangerous; they can easily pierce the skin of a spacecraft or the window. Space debris is monitored from Earth, and the ISS has to maneuver to avoid a collision. Solar panels of satellites are the first to suffer; debris can completely destroy a working system.
Currently, spent space debris is burned in the atmosphere or removed to safe disposal orbits, but these measures are clearly not enough. Scientists have called the issue of cleaning up space debris the first step in the era of space exploration.