The #FAA said debris hit one vehicle on the ground in South Caicos Island after the Jan. 16 breakup. The rocket breakups in January and earlier this month caused 414 departure delays for aircraft and 80 diversions or holds for planes already aloft https://www.expressnews.com/business/article/spacex-starship-explosions-flights-delayed-costs-20221722.php

@arstechnica Evedently #Elmo has decided to work exclusively on the "Break Things" phase of innovation But he is an #idiot so I'm not surprised.

2019 #ESA is "working to #automate the process of collision avoidance" https://www.cnet.com/science/esa-spacex-starlink-satellite-nearly-collides-with-european-aeolus-satellite

15/01/2025 "Improve #SpaceTraffic surveillance and coordination" still on the #ToDo list https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Technological_to-do_list_to_reach_Zero_Debris_created ... "This will require compatibility of different #automated systems" https://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/spacesafety/Zero_Debris_Technical_Booklet.pdf

Active #satellites must perform an increasing number of #collision avoidance manoeuvres to dodge out of the way of other satellites and fragments of #SpaceDebris. Another factor is the high level of solar activity which can often cause increased atmospheric drag. If we extrapolate current trends into the future, catastrophic collision numbers could rise significantly https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Space_Debris/ESA_Space_Environment_Report_2024

Cutting staff from the #SpaceTraffic program, which currently alerts #satellite operators of potential collisions with debris or other spacecraft, complicates a years-long effort to migrate those alerting duties out of the Pentagon. A #collision notice is an alert that a satellite could collide with another object in space.
"We are not talking a few dozen per year. We are talking tens of thousands" https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/trump-layoffs-hit-key-air-traffic-control-space-unit-2025-03-01

“Eventually someone’s going to get killed by a piece of #SpaceDebris.There are plenty of cases of people’s property being hit by space debris”. The threat of getting hit by uncontrolled orbital #reentries has increased by a factor of four from 2010 to 2023 https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/01/30/falling-space-debris-seismometers

In which SpaceX acknowledges its responsibility for the Falcon 9 #SpaceDebris falling onto Poland this week, says it "is working closely with the government of Poland on recovery and cleanup efforts" and explains why the controlled deorbiting of the rocket's upper stage had failed and how rare such an incident is: https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=sl-11-4 (amended).

#BlueOrigin rocket’s nose cone washed up on the shore of a #Bahamian island. In #Europe, flaming debris from a #SpaceX launch vehicle streaked across the #German sky, and what appears to be a fuel tank may have landed on a company’s property in #Poland.

And that’s just this week. https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/21/science/blue-origin-spacex-debris-bahamas-europe/index.html

There is a general consensus that more ambitious actions are urgently needed from all space stakeholders to minimise the unintentional release of debris; to avoid the #intentional release of debris; to anticipate and mitigate the impact of debris on human populations, infrastructure, and Earth’s #environment https://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/spacesafety/Zero_Debris_Technical_Booklet.pdf

#SpaceJunk that burns up as it plummets to Earth is starting to pollute the #atmosphere with #metals. “It’s becoming more #reflective because there’s more metal in it, which means we’re reflecting more sunlight. So it’s #cooling the planet” https://news.northeastern.edu/2025/02/07/what-is-space-junk

There are no binding #international rules governing the management and prevention of the growth of debris in space . Space-faring countries have established #guidelines, but they are not sufficient to guarantee a #sustainable space environment. https://www.internationalinsurance.org/insights_cyber_the_space_debris_dilemma

The management of common pool resources depends crucially on the existence and effectiveness of the #rules and institutions to govern their use.
For #space activities, this translates into human activities potentially littering Earth’s orbits beyond sustainable limits, creating #SpaceDebris that could reduce the value of space activities by increasing the risk of damaging collisions and requiring mitigation actions. https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2020/04/space-sustainability_a2d8e17f/a339de43-en.pdf