Phys.org Espacio<\/a> article published on November 13, 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Artificial remnants in orbit that can collide and pose risks to satellites and missions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Artificial remnants in orbit that can collide and pose risks to satellites and missions.","glosarix_cat":"","footnotes":""},"glossary-categories":[],"glossary-tags":[],"glossary-languages":[],"class_list":["post-341775","glossary","type-glossary","status-publish","hentry"],"post_title":"Space Debris","post_content":"
Description<\/h2>\r\n
Space debris are fragments of human\u2011made objects that remain in orbit around Earth after their useful life has ended or they have been damaged. They originate from rocket stages, inactive satellites, loose pieces from missions, and prior collisions, and can range from large bodies several metres in size to tiny particles the size of a screw. Each fragment follows a trajectory determined by Earth\u2019s gravity and residual atmospheric drag; in low orbits the atmosphere causes a slow disintegration by friction, while at higher altitudes the lack of drag allows them to persist for decades or centuries. The presence of these objects creates a high\u2011density environment where accidental collisions can generate more fragments, a process known as the Kessler cascade, which exponentially increases the risk for new missions and for existing space infrastructure.<\/p>\r\n
History<\/h2>\r\n
The concept of space debris emerged in the 1960s, when the first satellites and launch vehicle stages began to accumulate in orbit. In 1978 scientist Donald J.\u202fKessler formally described the \u201cKessler syndrome,\u201d predicting that a critical density of objects could trigger a self\u2011sustaining cascade of collisions. Since then, the number of objects in orbit has grown rapidly, especially with the proliferation of satellite constellations in recent years.<\/p>\r\n
Monitoring and mitigation<\/h2>\r\n
Space debris are monitored by Space Situational Awareness (SSA) systems to avoid collisions with operational satellites, space stations, and crewed missions; the information enables planning of avoidance maneuvers and protects critical communications and observation infrastructure. In addition, studying the distribution and dynamics of debris helps design mitigation guidelines, such as controlled de\u2011orbiting and limiting satellite lifetimes, thereby reducing long\u2011term risk to the orbital environment.<\/p>\r\n
Examples<\/h2>\r\n
A low\u2011Earth\u2011orbit communications satellite must execute a thrust maneuver to avoid a fragment from a rocket stage that approaches within less than a kilometre, using tracking data supplied by a network of radars and telescopes. In another case, an international space station carries out a controlled re\u2011entry of a discarded module, exploiting atmospheric friction to burn up the object before it can become permanent space debris.<\/p>\r\n
Added to Glosarix after appearing in a Phys.org Espacio<\/a> article published on November 13, 2026.<\/em><\/p>","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSpace Debris - Glosarix<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Artificial remnants in orbit that can collide and pose risks to satellites and missions.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/en\/glossary\/space-debris\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Space Debris - Glosarix\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Artificial remnants in orbit that can collide and pose risks to satellites and missions.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/en\/glossary\/space-debris\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Glosarix\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-11-14T17:22:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@GlosarixOficial\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/glosarix.com\\\/en\\\/glossary\\\/space-debris\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/glosarix.com\\\/en\\\/glossary\\\/space-debris\\\/\",\"name\":\"Space Debris - Glosarix\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/glosarix.com\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-11-14T17:10:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-11-14T17:22:26+00:00\",\"description\":\"Artificial remnants in orbit that can collide and pose risks to satellites and missions.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/glosarix.com\\\/en\\\/glossary\\\/space-debris\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/glosarix.com\\\/en\\\/glossary\\\/space-debris\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/glosarix.com\\\/en\\\/glossary\\\/space-debris\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Portada\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/glosarix.com\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Space Debris\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/glosarix.com\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/glosarix.com\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Glosarix\",\"description\":\"T\u00e9rminos tecnol\u00f3gicos - Glosarix\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/glosarix.com\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/glosarix.com\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/glosarix.com\\\/en\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Glosarix\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/glosarix.com\\\/en\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/glosarix.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/glosarix.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/Glosarix-logo-192x192-1.png.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/glosarix.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/Glosarix-logo-192x192-1.png.webp\",\"width\":192,\"height\":192,\"caption\":\"Glosarix\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/glosarix.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/GlosarixOficial\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/glosarixoficial\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Space Debris - Glosarix","description":"Artificial remnants in orbit that can collide and pose risks to satellites and missions.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/en\/glossary\/space-debris\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Space Debris - Glosarix","og_description":"Artificial remnants in orbit that can collide and pose risks to satellites and missions.","og_url":"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/en\/glossary\/space-debris\/","og_site_name":"Glosarix","article_modified_time":"2026-11-14T17:22:26+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@GlosarixOficial","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/en\/glossary\/space-debris\/","url":"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/en\/glossary\/space-debris\/","name":"Space Debris - Glosarix","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-11-14T17:10:30+00:00","dateModified":"2026-11-14T17:22:26+00:00","description":"Artificial remnants in orbit that can collide and pose risks to satellites and missions.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/en\/glossary\/space-debris\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/glosarix.com\/en\/glossary\/space-debris\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/en\/glossary\/space-debris\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Portada","item":"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Space Debris"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/en\/","name":"Glosarix","description":"T\u00e9rminos tecnol\u00f3gicos - Glosarix","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/en\/#organization","name":"Glosarix","url":"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Glosarix-logo-192x192-1.png.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Glosarix-logo-192x192-1.png.webp","width":192,"height":192,"caption":"Glosarix"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/GlosarixOficial","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/glosarixoficial\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossary\/341775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossary"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/glossary"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341775"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossary\/341775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":341910,"href":"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossary\/341775\/revisions\/341910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"glossary-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossary-categories?post=341775"},{"taxonomy":"glossary-tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossary-tags?post=341775"},{"taxonomy":"glossary-languages","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glosarix.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossary-languages?post=341775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}