Gettin' Awful Crowded In My Sky

As humans have pushed into the atmosphere and beyond, the stuff we brought with us is beginning to accumulate, even more so with the increased commercialization of space and technological advancement of satellites. From spent objects left behind to debris caused by collisions, the clutter is adding up.

So what happens to all of this debris in space? Much of it eventually drops down and burns up on reentry to Earth. In June of 2024, however, space debris crashed through a family's home in Naples, Florida. The object originated from hardware that was dumped by the International Space Station after installation of new batteries.

Earlier this week, Kathleen Curlee and Lauren Kahn published a data snapshot with Georgetown's Center for Security and Emerging Technology: Mapping Space Debris, An Interactive Data Visualization of Orbital Debris and Its Origins. Curlee and Kahn looked at 34,000 pieces of space debris the United States government has tracked since 1958