Space Junk Cleanup Poses Grand Challenge for 21st Century

Orbital debris meets operational satellite. The build-up of human-created orbital debris has reached a critical point. CREDIT: CNES

The buildup of space debris orbiting the Earth, which poses a threat to spacecraft and the environment, has reached a critical point, scientists say.

The space junk trend no longer can be reversed by full compliance with mitigation measures now in place; it will get worse without more-aggressive action such as active debris removal, or ADR. And that just might pose the biggest engineering challenge of the 21st century, according to J.-C. Liou of the Orbital Debris Program Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

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