page_title: Space debris
hierarchical_section_title: Space debris
caption_attribution_description: English: Debris plot by NASA The following graphics are computer generated images of objects in Earth orbit that are currently being tracked. Approximately 95% of the objects in this illustration are orbital debris, i.e., not functional satellites. The dots represent the current location of each item. The orbital debris dots are scaled according to the image size of the graphic to optimize their visibility and are not scaled to Earth. These images provide a good visualization of where the greatest orbital debris populations exist. Below are the graphics generated from different observation points. The GEO Polar images are generated from a vantage point above the north pole, showing the concentrations of objects in LEO and in the geosynchronous region.
context_page_description: Space debris is the collection of useless objects that are in orbit around Earth, for example broken satellites, empty rocket stages, pieces of metal, and many more. Because of how much space debris there is, collisions happen between space debris and sometimes even operational spacecraft, creating more debris.
  Since the start of space programs and the launch of Sputnik 1, NORAD has an active list of all known space launches and objects that are in Earth orbit, including waste parts, for example booster rockets. This is the Space Object Catalog.
context_section_description: Space debris is the collection of useless objects that are in orbit around Earth, for example broken satellites, empty rocket stages, pieces of metal, and many more. Because of how much space debris there is, collisions happen between space debris and sometimes even operational spacecraft, creating more debris.
  Since the start of space programs and the launch of Sputnik 1, NORAD has an active list of all known space launches and objects that are in Earth orbit, including waste parts, for example booster rockets. This is the Space Object Catalog.
caption: Space debris around Earth from a top-down view. The cloud of objects in the center are objects in low Earth orbit, and the ring on the edge is objects in geostationary orbit.
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