The Space Junk War

In 1961, when the Soviet Union sent the first person in the space, fewer than 1000 pieces of space junk had accumulated from previous exploration efforts decades later. There are now nearly 30,000 pieces and that number only includes the pieces that are trackable. Debris mitigation and removal is currently the only way that debris can deorbit can get out of space. However, actively deorbiting debris includes collecting debris and moving it to a lower orbit from which it can deorbit on its own more quickly.