Revisiting space debris: The rubbish you didn’t see coming

Why space pollution has experts worried

This computer-generated image released by the European Space Agency (ESA) on April 15, 2008 shows trackable objects in orbit around Earth.
This computer-generated image released by the European Space Agency (ESA) on April 15, 2008 shows trackable objects in orbit around Earth [ESA/AFP]

In November, Russia joined the small club of nations that have conducted anti-satellite missile tests. That test created a huge cloud of space debris. Ever since, the issue of rubbish in space has been inching its way into the headlines, and figuring out what to do about it is surprisingly political.

In this episode:

  • Moriba Jah (@moribajah), Associate Professor, University of Texas at Austin
  • Alice Gorman (@drspacejunk), Associate Professor, Flinders University

Episode credits:

This episode was updated by Negin Owliaei. The interviews for this episode were produced by Al Jazeera’s Start Here team. The original production team was Negin Owliaei, Priyanka Tilve, Ruby Zaman, Alexandra Locke, Ney Alvarez, Amy Walters, Tom Fenton, Stacey Samuel, and Malika Bilal. Alex Roldan is our sound designer. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers.

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Source: Al Jazeera