Major contributors to space debris include the explosion of upper stages and satellite collisions.[1]

Overview

There were 190 known satellite breakups between 1961 and 2006.[2] By 2015, the total had grown to 250 on-orbit fragmentation events.[3]

As of 2012 there were an estimated 500,000 pieces of debris in orbit,[4] with 300,000 pieces below 2000 km (LEO).[1] Of the total, about 20,000 are tracked.[1] Also, about sixteen old Soviet nuclear space reactors are known to have released an estimated 100,000 NaK liquid metal coolant droplets 800–900 km up,[5] which range in size from 1 – 6 cm.[5]

The greatest risk to space missions is from untracked debris between 1 and 10 cm in size.[1] Large pieces can be tracked and avoided, and impact from smaller pieces are usually survivable.[1]

Top debris creation events

Top debris creation events, December 2022[6]
Object Year Pieces Notes
Fengyun-1C 2007 3,549 Intentional collision (ASAT)
Kosmos 2251 2009 1,716 Accidental collision with Iridium 33
Kosmos 1408 2021 1,562 Intentional collision (ASAT)
STEP 2 Rocket Body 1996 756 Residual propellant explosion
Iridium 33 2009 659 Accidental collision with Kosmos 2251
Kosmos 2421 2008 511 Disintegrated[citation needed]
SPOT 1 Rocket Body 1986 506 Residual propellant explosion
Parus 1981 482 Battery explosion
OV2-1 Rocket Body 1965 473 Engine explosion
Nimbus 4 Rocket Body 1970 465 Residual propellant explosion
NOAA-16 2015 458 Battery explosion
TES Rocket Body 2001 373 Residual propellant explosion
CBERS 1 Rocket Body 2000 344 Residual propellant explosion
Fregat tank 2020 338 Residual propellant explosion
Ablestar 1961 320 Residual propellant explosion
Delta 2910 1975 313 Residual propellant explosion
Solwind 1985 289 Intentional collision (ASAT) [7]

Recent events

Date Object International Designation Cause Total Pieces Pieces in Orbit Reentered Pieces as of Dec 2022[a]
August 31, 2018 Centaur V upper stage [8] 2014-055B Unknown [8] 107 107 0
December 22, 2018 ORBCOMM FM-16 [8] 1998-046E Energetic fragmentation; Probably caused by left over propellent [9] 13 5 8
January 24, 2019 Microsat-R [9] 2019-006A ASAT (Anti-Satellite) weapon system test [9] 129 0 129
February 6, 2019 H2-A 202 Rocket Body [8] 2018-084L Unknown; Third known breakup of an H-2A Rocket Body[8] 6 0 6
February 6, 2019 H2-A 202 Payload Adapter [8] 2018-084E Energetic fragmentation event; Cause Unknown[8] 3 0 3
April 2019 Centaur V Rocket Body[9] 2018-079B Energetic fragmentation event; Cause Unknown[9] 193 192 1
May 7, 2019 Titan IIIC Transtage rocket body[10] 1976-023F Energetic fragmentation event by caused the overheating of leftover anhydrous hydrazine(N2H4) Mono Propellant [10] ?[b] ? ?
August 19, 2019 SOZ (Sistema Obespecheniya Zapuska) ullage motor from a Proton Block DM fourth stage[10] 2010-041H Energetic fragmentation event; caused by left over fuel in the ullage motor. 30th fragmentation event of a SOZ unit. 34 intact units remain in orbit[10] 23 23 0
August 13, 2019 Ariane 42P third stage rocket body[10] 1992-052D Unknown [10] 10 10 0
December 23, 2019 Kosmos 2491 2013-076E Unknown[11][12] ~20 ~20 0
May 8, 2020 Fregat tank [13] 2011-037B Unknown, possibly explosion [13] 346 280 66
July 12, 2020 H2-A 202 Fairing [13] 2018-084C Collision with untracked debris [13] 123 5 118
March 18, 2021 Yunhai-1 02[14] 2019-063A Accidental collision with a fragment from the Zenit-2 rocket body that launched Tselina-2 in 1996.[14] 39 20 19
November 15, 2021 Kosmos 1408 1982-092A ASAT (Anti-Satellite) weapon system test 1787 394 1393
November 12, 2022 Long March 6A upper stage 2022-151B Unknown[15] 350 349 1
November 17, 2022 H2-A 202 Payload fairing 2012-025F Energetic fragmentation event; Cause unknown[16] 50+ 50+ 0
January 4, 2023 Kosmos 2499 2014-028E Unknown[12] 85 85 0
March 11, 2023 Orbcomm F36 1999-065E Unknown; likely energetic fragmentation event caused by a malfunction in the hydrazine orbit adjust system[17][18] 7 7 0
August 21, 2023 Vega VV02 VESPA adapter 2013-021D Unknown; likely debris impact[19][20] 7 7 0
  1. ^ The date when all rows were updated.
  2. ^ No fragments have entered the SSN catalog as 2022-09-22

References

  1. ^ a b c d e The Threat of Orbital Debris and Protecting NASA Space Assets from Satellite Collisions (2009)
  2. ^ "AN ANALYSIS OF RECENT MAJOR BREAKUPS IN THE LOW EARTH ORBIT REGION". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2013-05-04.
  3. ^ "ESA Experts Assess Risk from Exploded Satellite". www.esa.int. ESA. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  4. ^ "DARPA wants army of networked amateur astronomers to watch sky for space junk, aliens". Stratrisks. 2012-11-14. Archived from the original on 2012-11-19.
  5. ^ a b IEEE – The Growing Threat of Space Debris Archived 2013-01-27 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ McDowell, Jonathan (9 Dec 2022). "Space Debris Clouds". Jonathan's Space Pages. Retrieved 10 Dec 2022.
  7. ^ December 2016, Space com Staff 21 (21 December 2016). "The Most Dangerous Space Weapons Ever". Space.com. Retrieved 2021-04-22.((cite web)): CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ a b c d e f g National Aeronautics and Space Administration (May 2019). "Orbital Debris Quarterly News" (PDF). Space News. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  9. ^ a b c d e National Aeronautics and Space Administration (August 2019). "Orbital Debris Quarterly News" (PDF). Space News. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  10. ^ a b c d e f National Aeronautics and Space Administration (November 2019). "Orbital Debris Quarterly News" (PDF). Space News. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  11. ^ @planet4589 (January 12, 2020). "Unlike the two later sats, Kosmos-2491 did not change its orbit. It appeared to end its mission in 2014. However, at about 1321 UTC on 2019 Dec 23, the satellite made a 1.5m/s orbit change and 10 debris objects have now been cataloged" (Tweet). Retrieved 8 February 2023 – via Twitter.
  12. ^ a b Berger, Eric (8 February 2023). "Mysterious Russian satellites are now breaking apart in low-Earth orbit". Ars Technica. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
  13. ^ a b c d National Aeronautics and Space Administration (August 2020). "Orbital Debris Quarterly News" (PDF). NASA. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  14. ^ a b Wall, Mike (17 August 2021). "Space collision: Chinese satellite got whacked by hunk of Russian rocket in March". Space.com. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  15. ^ @18thSDS (November 13, 2022). "18th Space Defense Squadron confirmed breakup associated with CZ-6A Rocket Body - likely occurred Nov 12 at around 05:25 UTC" (Tweet). Retrieved 13 November 2022 – via Twitter.
  16. ^ @18thSDS (November 23, 2022). "18th Space Defense Squadron confirms breakup of H-2A DEB (#38345, 2012-025F)" (Tweet). Retrieved 10 December 2022 – via Twitter.
  17. ^ Orbital Focus [@OrbitalFocus] (March 17, 2023). "From Space-Track: The 18th Space Defense Squadron (18 SDS) has confirmed the breakup of Orbcomm FM 36 (#25984, 1999-065E), which likely occurred March 11, 2023, at approximately 0145 UTC. As of March 16, 18 SDS is tracking 7 associated pieces at an estimated 792 km altitude..." (Tweet). Retrieved 21 March 2023 – via Twitter.
  18. ^ @planet4589 (March 17, 2023). "The jump is a propulsive orbit adjust, which makes the likeliest cause some kind of bad event in the hydrazine orbit adjust system" (Tweet). Retrieved 21 March 2023 – via Twitter.
  19. ^ Jonathan McDowell [@planet4589] (August 22, 2023). "7 new debris objects cataloged from the Vega VV02 launch in a 23:50 LTDN sun-sync orbit, consistent with a breakup of the VESPA adapter upper section, object 39162. Possibly the result of an impact by a small object?" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  20. ^ "Objects detected in the vicinity of ClearSpace-1 debris removal mission target". ESA. 22 August 2023. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
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