If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs. Earth’s space junk problem isn’t just growing—it’s accelerating. According to the European ...

With over 14,000 satellites currently orbiting Earthâ approximately 3,500 of which are inactiveâ and an estimated 120 million pieces of debris ... on space traffic coordination. We must ...

which we use to forecast weather, communicate, navigate, and monitor both environmental and national security issues. In 2009, two satellites crashed, creating thousands of pieces of space junk.