Space Junk orbiting our planet Earth

There’s 6,300 tonnes of space junk orbiting Earth.

Livermore Lab estimates that there’s

between 100,000 to 200,000 pieces of debris.  That’s a lot of space junk.

There’s a risk that all that debris could damage important satellites. Researchers at Livermore Lab are using supercomputers, optical sensors and other technology to track even small objects that could cause problems.  

Satellites provide us with very crucial data, anywhere from the GPS in our cellphones to forecasting the weather to monitoring our crops for our food supply.  If one of these small pieces of debris hits a satellite we then lose these capabilities.