Thespace debris has increased nearly 20 percent in 2009with respect to the levels of the previous year, and orbitingaround the Earth there are about 15,090 debris, from rockets and shuttles to the remains of these devices, according to the latest quarterly report of the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office.
Of the 15,090 space bodies, theCommonwealth of Independent States(CIS) -United Kingdom and its colonies- is the one that discharges the largest amount of garbage into space, with a total of 5,653 objects; followed by the United States with 4,812, and China with 3,144. The European Space Agency (ESA) is the entity with the least space debris, with only 85 bodies, of which 41 specifically come from explosions.
NASA periodically measures the volume of man-made objects that orbit the Earth. In this way we know that during the first half of 2009, from January 1 to March 31, 13,897 objects were around our planet. Subsequently, until June 30, this figure increased to 14,863 and finally, from July to September to 14,967, reaching 15,090 at the end of December.
To detect remnants of space debris, they must begreater than five centimeters. NASA’s program in charge of controlling, cataloging and identifying them is theU.S Space Surveillance Network. It also deals withpredict when and where an object will fall back on Earth, identify your position in space, and report if debris interferes with the stationShuttle.
