Space Junk

One person's space trash is another's space treasure — and that's definitely true for Alice Gorman, an archaeologist specializing in the detritus of spaceflight.

We can minimize the chances of a catastrophic cascade of collisions if satellite designers and operators follow a few simple rules, according to the Space Safety Coalition.

New infrared cameras and gel-based thrusters just might help future satellites dodge space debris, a new study finds.

The episode "Lines We Cross" ends with an old Soviet satellite crashing to Earth, sparking a new plot point for the show. But how realistic is it? We asked a scientist.

There was a 5.6% chance that Bigelow Aerospace's Genesis II experimental habitat and Russia's defunct Cosmos 1300 satellite would collide early this morning (Sept. 18). But it didn't happen.

A European Earth-observation satellite performed an evasive maneuver yesterday (Sept. 2) to make sure it didn't collide with one of SpaceX's recently launched Starlink internet craft.

The Russian-built Progress cargo ship went down in flames (on purpose) on Monday (July 29) and a space station astronaut made sure to capture its fiery doom on camera.

The failure of at least five percent of the first batch of SpaceX Starlink satellites has put a spotlight on the growing concerns with dead satellites in low Earth orbit.

European researchers melted a dense satellite part in a special space fire created in a lab in hopes of better protecting people on Earth from falling debris as satellites re-enter our atmosphere.

A little spacecraft could soon make a big contribution in the fight against space junk.

Luxembourg-based Intelsat reports that its Intelsat 29E satellite (IS-29E) is now a total loss, after having reported earlier that the spacecraft suffered an anomaly.

The breakup created a cloud of space debris.

A lightweight object resembling an empty trash bag is winging around Earth in a truly bizarre orbit.

Lots of people got to admire, and puzzle over, the fireball that blazed up off the coast of Northern California just after sunset on Wednesday (Dec. 19).

A fireball lit up the sky over the San Francisco Bay Area shortly after sunset Wednesday (Dec. 19), leaving an odd, wind-twisted trail in its violent wake.

Spaceflight favors big rockets and small technology — but when that technology gets small enough, it may act very differently from traditional satellites and spacecraft.