WE TRASHED EARTH, SO NOW WE’RE TRASHING SPACE TOO

Mario Nawfal

@MarioNawfal
🚨WE TRASHED EARTH, SO NOW WE’RE TRASHING SPACE TOO

Congrats, humanity! Not only have we filled the planet with pollution, but we’re now turning Earth’s orbit into a high-speed junkyard—and climate change is making it worse.

Right now, 40,000+ pieces of tracked space debris (plus millions of smaller, untracked bits) are zooming around at 17,000 mph. Even a paint chip at that speed can smash a satellite.

Normally, the upper atmosphere helps by dragging space junk down to burn up.

But thanks to all the CO₂ we’ve pumped into the air, the atmosphere is shrinking—which means space junk is sticking around longer than it should.

By 2100, the atmosphere will be so thin that only half the current number of satellites can fit safely. Meanwhile, companies like SpaceX plan to launch 60,000+ new satellites by 2030.

At this rate, we’re heading for Kessler syndrome—a chaotic chain reaction where satellites crash, create more debris, and eventually make space completely unusable.

Basically, we’ve turned Earth into a landfill, and now we’re working on the sky. Great job, everyone.

Source: Popular Science