Space Junk: How Cluttered Is The Final Frontier?

Since the dawn of Sputnik in 1957, space-faring nations have been filling Earth's orbital highways with satellites: GPS, weather forecasting, telecommunications. Decades later, orbital debris is a growing problem. Orbital debris, commonly known as "space junk," exists at all levels of orbit, but is especially concentrated in low Earth orbit. Space junk has the potential to damage working satellites and crewed spacecraft, including the International Space Station. More

(Source: NPR - Jan 14)