Get unlimited access to everything VICE has to offer.

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

4 Magazines Delivered to Your Door

Earth’s Orbit Is Full of Hidden Space Junk, and Some of It Could Threaten Modern Life

Researchers found previously undetected debris near geosynchronous orbit, where critical communications and weather satellites operate.

Share on X (Opens in new window)X

Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Facebook

Share using Native toolsShareCopied to clipboard

According to new research from the University of Warwick, there may be a hidden “minefield” of space junk orbiting our planet that researchers are only now beginning to detect.

It’s no secret that all the junk accumulating just outside the reaches of our planet is becoming a growing problem. With the explosion in rocket launches as governments and private companies race to fill Earth’s orbit with every gadget and gizmo imaginable—from GPS satellites to communications relays—a lot of that hardware eventually dies up there. Sometimes it collides, shattering into clouds of debris that whip through space at thousands of........

© Vice