India Among The Biggest Polluters, Leaving Behind Half A Thousand Pieces of Space Junk Around Earth

Space junk is a growing concern for us as humans are filling the outer space with debris from satellites, rockets, and spacecraft. There are only of handful of countries with enough technological advancement to explore what is beyond Earth, but which one is the worst offender when it comes to littering space?

RS Components, an industrial and electrical component distributor, has crunched the numbers and provide us the answer for this question.

Of the 30,000 pieces of space junk, Russia accounts for 14,403, most of them are defunct satellites and components of space shuttles. Occupying the second place is the United States with its 8,734 pieces of debris. China ranks right up next with 4,688 pieces. France is responsible for 994 while 517 pieces belong to India.

What is troubling researchers is the fact that the amount of space junk is more than double in just a few years. While Russia is the now the top polluter, India is the country with the biggest increase. In just two years, the country left 214 pieces in space.

The best scenario we can expect is that some of the pieces will burn up without our interference, but the majority of them remain in orbit around Earth. Countries have come up with a number of ways to destroy them before they cause damage to functioning satellites or spacecraft. Some of the most promising are space grippers and timing collision.

At this point, when there has not been any effective way to remove them, space junk is still a pressing issue for space agencies all over the world. And if we do nothing, the existing pieces will collide and create even smaller pieces.

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