Space debris is equal to the metallic structure of the Eiffel Tower

ESA today issued a new report on space junk that includes facts, figures, and graphs showing a a detailed picture of how waste has evolved around our planet

" The space junk includes all objects created by humans that do not work and are in orbit on Earth; some of them regularly enter the atmosphere according to ESA

The space age began on October 4, 1957 with the launch of Sputnik 1, which was the first artificial satellite in history and launched the Union. Soviet, since then space debris in orbit has ceased to increase.

First of all, there were only upper parts of obsolete rockets and satellites in orbit, but small objects were added that generated explosions and collisions

The Annual Report examines how the space environment has evolved over the past year and also how it has changed since the dispatch of the first satellites .

ESA has long warned that space debris is increasing alarmingly and is a serious threat to operational satellites .

In addition, larger objects could re-enter the atmosphere crashing against the surface of the earth, in areas that could be populated.

The report badures that the number of objects, their total mbad and the area they cover have increased over time until 2017.

Therefore, sixty years later At the beginning of the space age, space agencies have begun to implement end-of-life options for instruments that are launched into space from Earth.

For example, the ESA initiative "Clean Space" ways to clean the space and prevent it from generating more space debris .

Now with the CubeSat satellite design technology small and low cost, the space is filled and can damage other missions, the ESA says that it is necessary to clean the space to ensure a sustainable future.

In the early sixties, investigations in the US have already warned of the problem, but it took time. It took time for the international community to worry.

At a conference held in its Darmstadt operations control center in Germany, ESA warned last year that large companies like Google and Oneweb small satellites at the Space, in low orbits, which can compromise the missions of the large satellites, very expensive space agencies.

The company Oneweb wants to create a large constellation of satellites to provide a For this, it will be necessary to put into low orbit around 700 satellites in the years to come.

These satellites were to be launched from December 2018 aboard a Russian Soyuz ST rocket, but the first launch was postponed until March 2019, according to Sputnik. EFE