The number of space launches has skyrocketed over the last few years, rapidly turning the Earth’s atmosphere into a “crematorium” for satellites and other space junk.
Even now, it’s a considerable danger for any spacecraft that dares to orbit the Earth in a cluttered environment. According to the European Space Agency, more than 60 years of space activity have resulted in over 56,000 tracked objects in orbit. Roughly half of them, as meticulously catalogued by the US Space Surveillance Network, are doomed to circle our planet in perpetuity.
Now, a Chinese reconnaissance satellite is making matters even worse. The country’s Yaogan 50-02 satellite managed to reach its highly retrograde orbit at an altitude of around 590 miles, circling the Earth at an angle of 141 degrees, against the planet’s rotation — a highly unusual orbit.
However, as Harvard astronomer and space tracking expert Jonathan McDowell noted on X, the satellite disintegrated months later, resulting in 43 separate pieces of space debris being tracked by the US Space Force at orbits between 372 and 683 miles.
