India Top 6th Polluter of Outer Space: Says Report

Outer Space Pollution: Leave it to humans to pollute everything that exists, be it water, air, or soil. Turns out that we have run out of space on earth to pollute; that is why we have moved on to outer space to dump our waste. 

Debris from defunct satellites, ion thrusters, and weapons experiments that human space organizations have launched in the years- past and present- have taken up residence in space, forming a giant clutter that could collide with the operational satellites which are currently in use to keep an eye on Earth, and release hazardous chemicals as they burn up on reaching the Earth’s atmosphere and could severely deplete the ozone layer in the process. 

Source: NASA | The Image above is a graphic representation of space debris and man-made satellites surrounding the Earth.

This is a matter of concern that poses a threat to ongoing and upcoming space programmes.

Statista, a database company in Germany, has released a list of the nations with the highest rates of space debris pollution. 

Russia, the US, and China are the top polluters of space, respectively. Japan and France take the fourth and fifth spots, respectively. India holds the sixth position with 114 pieces of derbris. 

One factor contributing to the growth of this debris is the increased deployment of missiles by nations to destroy their own satellites once they have served their purpose. In November of last year, Russia detonated one of its outdated satellites with an anti-satellite (ASAT) missile and even endangered the International Space Station as it sent thousands of debris pieces near its orbit.

Source: Statista.com

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has raised the issue of space sustainability, saying, “the retrieval of debris could involve sharing potentially sensitive data about the debris object’s design that could involve national security, foreign policy, intellectual property, etc. Therefore, countries would realistically be limited to removing their own satellites or those of close military allies.”

However, it is being said that about 65,000 spacecraft will be launched by Boeing Co. and SpaceX into low-Earth orbit in an effort to reduce space debris contamination.