It’s Getting Crowded up in Space

A revival of space missions and a growing market for satellites mean that the amount of space junk circling Earth is increasing as well. Almost 35,000 space objects of the size of a softball or above are currently known to exist in orbit. While a big number are in use, like satellites, almost as many can be classified as space junk. This includes old rocket stages, space mission components that on purpose or accidentally remained in space and other artificial debris that was created by collisions, breakups or explosions. More small satellites deployed as part of constellations means that object counts in both categories have become more equal, but also that flight paths can become more crowded.

Data from the General Catalogue of Artificial Space Objects, curated by Jonathan McDowell, shows how payload objects – typically satellites – have entered orbit at increasing numbers in the past couple of years as the sector has been booming. Satellite constellations providing internet services, like Space X's Starlink or Amazon's newer product Kuiper, have introduced a great number of satellites into space in the last couple of years. While the number of space junk objects had surpassed that of payload objects manifold in previous years, the two categories are approaching equal numbers in 2026.

The graphic includes objects listed in the database’s standard and auxiliary catalogues and orders currently orbiting objects for the year they entered their current orbit stage – typically their launch date, but at times also their separation date if the object in question got lost at a later stage or was created by a breakup. The database lists more than 80,000 space objects from 1958 onwards, out of which around 23,000 remain in orbit.