Space Debris Around Earth - 10 Shocking Facts

Fact 1 - A massive piece of space debris is on a collision course with earth and due to hit November 13th, 2015. 

Currently, experts are baffled by what the piece of junk heading our way is, but its named WT1190F. (Rather apt when you remove the numbers - WTF).

It will enter the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean at 06:19 GMT. Some of it will burn up as it speeds towards Earth but it's thought some parts will survive and could smash into the ground.

Fact 2 - The oldest surviving piece of man-made space debris still in orbit is the Vanguard 1 satellite. Launched in 1958, it is expected to remain in orbit for for well over 200 years.

Fact 3 - The upper-stage rocket for a GPS satellite launched in 1993, crashed back to earth on 12 January 2001, in the Saudi Arabian desert.

Fact 4 - As there is no commercial incentive to reduce space debris, it continues to grow in quantity. Over 500,000 pieces of debris are being tracked orbiting the Earth.

Fact 5 - Nonfunctional spacecraft and abandoned launch vehicle stages account for most of the larger pieces of space debris.

Fact 6 - Some of the more unusual pieces of debris include an astronauts glove, a camera, a wrench, a pair of pliers, a tool bag and a toothbrush.

Fact 7 - According to NASA, an average of one cataloged piece of debris has fallen back to Earth each day for the past 50 years.

Fact 8 - On 27 March 2007, the pilot of a LAN Airbus A340 carrying 270 passengers over the Pacific had a near miss with the debris from a Russian spy satellite, hurtling passed.

Fact 9 - In 1997 an Oklahoma woman, became the only person to be hit by a piece of falling space debris. Although hit by a part of the propellant tank of a rocket used to launch a satellite the year before, she was completely uninjured.

Fact 10 - On 11 July 1979 Skylab re-entered the Earth's atmosphere and disintegrated, raining debris along a path over the southern Indian Ocean and Western Australia.

When the parts of the Skylab space station crashed near Esperance, Western Australia, the town's council issued NASA a $400 fine for littering. It was eventually paid 30 years later in 2009.

Credits

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/CI Lab

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