Pollution: There is also a large amount of waste in the atmosphere

l’pollution it is not limited to just what we see on the earth’s surface. Every time we turn our eyes to the sky, we can see, even if we are not aware of it, one of the greatest open landfills. This is because, following the increasingly frequent launches of satellitesmainly for commercial use, booster missiles And anti-satellite weaponsthe amount space debris has increased significantly in recent years.

According to US space force there are about 19,000 recognizable space debris floating around in theorbit around the earth and they are mainly from the US, China and Russia. At least most of these are big 10 centimeters. If we were to consider even the small unidentified fragments, the amount of these could exceed hundreds of millions of units.

The first real build-up occurred in 2007 with the deliberate destruction of the Chinese weather satellite FengYun-1C in an anti-satellite weapons test. In 2009 there was a collision between the satellites Iridium-33 And Cosmos-2251. in 2021 Cosmos-1408 it was then destroyed by Russia for another anti-satellite weapons test.

The problem with this fragments is that they not only pose a risk to functioning satellites, but can also cause damage? ozone layer, which can be reduced by the combustion of satellite fragments that burn when they re-enter the atmosphere. In addition, the increase of this debris can deorbit around the earth prevent the launch of new satellites.

The process of cleaning the atmosphere however, it is complex due to technological, economic and geopolitical issues. The latter because the debris could end up in the wrong hands who could get sensitive data. Therefore, according to the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) each country should confine itself to salvaging its own debris and that of its allies.