question: Is it okay for companies like spaceX to just send junk like cars and 12 thousand satellites into orbit, won't that create a ton of dangerous garbage in space?
comment: The satellites aren't junk or garbage. They have a purpose, they are the kind of thing we want. But, most importantly, these are controlled, trackable orbits. This is key because space is /big/ so we can dance thousands of satellites through the various orbits. Because these satellites are less than pebbles and operating in formations across three dimensions and different types of orbits. The car? It's orbit intersects with the earth. Oh, and also Mars. It's over a trillion miles away from us, at the moment. If something went wrong in the future? It'd burn up in the upper atmosphere if it didn't just fly out into the black.
passages: Aggressive space activities without adequate safeguards could significantly shorten the time between collisions and produce an intolerable hazard to future spacecraft. Some of the most environmentally dangerous activities in space include large constellations such as those initially proposed by the Strategic Defense Initiative in the mid-1980s, large structures such as those considered in the late-1970s for building solar power stations in Earth orbit, and anti-satellite warfare using systems tested by the USSR, the U.S., and China over the past 30 years. Such aggressive activities could set up a situation where a single satellite failure could lead to cascading failures of many satellites in a period much shorter than years.
   The vulnerability of satellites to debris and the possibility of attacking LEO satellites to create debris clouds, has triggered speculation that it is possible for countries unable to make a precision attack. An attack on a satellite of 10 tonnes or more would heavily damage the LEO environment.
  
  Section::::Threats.
  
  Section::::Threats.:To spacecraft.
  
  Space junk is a threat to active satellites and spaceships. The Earth's orbit may even become impassable as the risk of collision grows too high.
  
  Section::::Threats.:To spacecraft.:Unmanned spacecraft.
   A 2011 report by the U.S. National Research Council warned NASA that the amount of orbiting space debris was at a critical level. According to some computer models, the amount of space debris "has reached a tipping point, with enough currently in orbit to continually collide and create even more debris, raising the risk of spacecraft failures". The report called for international regulations limiting debris and research of disposal methods.
   Section::::Space debris.
  
  Space debris describes particulates in the vacuum of outer space, specifically particles originating from human activity that remain in geocentric orbit around the Earth. The International Association of Astronauts define space debris as "any man-made Earth orbiting object which is non-functional with no reasonable expectation of assuming or resuming its intended function or any other function for which it is or can be expected to be authorized, including fragments and parts thereof".
   BULLET::::- Space Age Wasteland: Debris in Orbit Is Here to Stay; Scientific American; 2012
  
  BULLET::::- United States Space Surveillance Network
  
  BULLET::::- PATENDER: GMV’S Trailblazing low-gravity space-debris capture system
  
  BULLET::::- Space Junk Infographic
  
  BULLET::::- Project West Ford an intentional placement of a large number of small copper metallic objects in medium Earth orbit (long lifetime) in the 1960s by the US government, resulting in a large amount of space debris, which created international relations adverse effects.
   BULLET::::- Kessler was featured in an article named, "The Looming Space Junk Crisis: It’s Time to Take Out the Trash," which appeared in the June 2010 issue of "Wired" magazine.
  
  BULLET::::- Documentary: "Collision point: The race to clean up space" (length: 22 minutes 28 seconds), included in the extra material on the Blu-ray Disc for "Gravity" (film).
  
  Section::::External links.
  
  BULLET::::- Orbiting Satellites in real time
  
  BULLET::::- Don Kessler's Web Page
  
  BULLET::::- Mathematical Modeling of debris flux
  
  BULLET::::- "The New York Times": "Orbiting Junk, Once a Nuisance, Is Now a Threat"
  
  BULLET::::- "Wired": "Houston we have a trash problem"
   As of December 2016, five satellite collisions have generated space debris. Space debris is also known as "orbital debris", "space junk", "space waste", "space trash", "space litter" or "space garbage".
   An alternative that has been proposed for years is to introduce the capability to retrieve derelict objects for near-space clean up and then either deorbit the satellite or do some sort of in-space recycling of the satellite materials. Several technical approaches have been proposed, but there has been no legal framework to date that has required satellite operators to clean up the negative externality of their derelict satellites. New approaches offer the technical prospect of markedly reducing the cost of object capture and deorbit with the implementation of a one-up/one-down launch license regime to Earth orbits that would require satellite operators to remove one spacecraft for each one deployed.
   Rockets as a class are not inherently grossly polluting. However, some rockets use toxic propellants, and most vehicles use propellants that are not carbon neutral. Many solid rockets have chlorine in the form of perchlorate or other chemicals, and this can cause temporary local holes in the ozone layer. Re-entering spacecraft generate nitrates which also can temporarily impact the ozone layer. Most rockets are made of metals that can have an environmental impact during their construction.
   Current consensus is that as space is not classed as a "country" under the specific definition, export of e-waste to non terrestrial locations would not be covered. This has been suggested (somewhat laughably) as a way to deal with the "Fridge Mountain" and related deposits of waste in the UK and elsewhere in the event of a way to cheaply access space such as an orbital tether being built.
  
  Section::::Basel Ban Amendment.
   In 2009, Rhett & Link wrote a song called "Space Junk" and made an accompanying music video for the TV series "Brink". The lyrics refer to two men tasked to clean up debris such as satellites and expended rockets.
  
  "Gravity" is a 2013 survival film, directed by Alfonso Cuaron, about a disaster on a space mission caused by Kessler syndrome.
  
  "Antariksham 9000 KMPH" is a 2018 Indian Telugu-language science fiction adventure film about a lost Indian satellite that may trigger a Kessler syndrome.
  
  Section::::See also.
  
  BULLET::::- Interplanetary contamination
  
  BULLET::::- Liability Convention
  
  BULLET::::- List of large reentering space debris
   BULLET::::3. Potentially hazardous processes can be performed in space with minimal risk to the environment of the Earth or other planets.
   A number of scholars have also observed that institutional factors—political, legal, economic and cultural "rules of the game"—are the greatest impediment to the cleanup of near-Earth space. There is no commercial incentive, since costs aren't assigned to polluters, but a number of suggestions have been made. However, effects to date are limited. In the US, governmental bodies have been accused of backsliding on previous commitments to limit debris growth, "let alone tackling the more complex issues of removing orbital debris." The different methods for removal of space debris has been evalauted by the Space Generation Advisory Council, including French astrophysicist Fatoumata Kébé.
   BULLET::::- Restrict open waste facilities near waterways
  
  BULLET::::- Promote the use of Refuse-derived fuels. Used plastic with low residual value often do not get recycled and are more likely to leak into the ocean. However, turning these unwanted plastics that would otherwise stay in landfills into refuse-derived fuels allows for further use; they can be used as supplement fuels at power plants
  
  BULLET::::- Improve recovery rates for plastic (in 2012, the United States generated 11.46 million tons of plastic waste, of which only 6.7% was recovered
   A consensus of speakers at a meeting in Brussels on 30 October 2012 organized by the Secure World Foundation (a U.S. think tank) and the French International Relations Institute reported that removal of the largest debris would be required to prevent the risk to spacecraft becoming unacceptable in the foreseeable future (without any addition to the inventory of dead spacecraft in LEO). Removal costs and legal questions about ownership and the authority to remove defunct satellites have stymied national or international action. Current space law retains ownership of all satellites with their original operators, even debris or spacecraft which are defunct or threaten active missions.
   List of items smuggled into space
  
  Multiple people have covertly sneaked items on to space missions without the knowledge of their superiors. Here is a partial list of those items.
  
  BULLET::::- Gemini 3 astronauts in 1965 brought a corned beef sandwich into orbit, which was widely publicized in the media. They were reprimanded by NASA officials.
  
  BULLET::::- Soviet Cosmonauts aboard Soyuz 29 in 1978 brought chocolates on board their flight, which scattered in orbit and required two hours to collect.
   BULLET::::- The London Convention (1972) – a United Nations agreement to control ocean dumping This Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter consisted of twenty two articles addressing expectations of contracting parties. The three annexes defined many compounds, substances, and materials that are unacceptable to deposit into the ocean. Examples of such matter include: mercury compounds, lead, cyanides, and radioactive wastes.
   "Space debris" usually refers to the remains of spacecraft that have either fallen to Earth or are still orbiting Earth. Space debris may also consist of natural components such as chunks of rock and ice. The problem of space debris has grown as various space programs have left legacies of launches, explosions, repairs, and discards in both low Earth orbit and more remote orbits. These orbiting fragments have reached a great enough proportion to constitute a hazard to future space launches of both satellite and manned vehicles. Various government agencies and international organizations are beginning to track space debris and also research possible solutions to the problem. While many of these items, ranging in size from nuts and bolts to entire satellites and spacecraft, may fall to Earth, other items located in more remote orbits may stay aloft for centuries. The velocity of some of these pieces of space junk have been clocked in excess of 17,000 miles per hour (27,000 km/h). A piece of space debris falling to Earth leaves a fiery trail, just like a meteor.
   Accidents can occur on the ground during launch, preparation, or in flight, due to equipment malfunction or the naturally hostile environment of space itself. An additional risk is posed by (unmanned) low-orbiting satellites whose orbits eventually decay due to friction with the extremely thin atmosphere. If they are large enough, massive pieces traveling at great speed can fall to the Earth before burning up, with the potential to do damage.
   BULLET::::- MARPOL 73/78 – a convention designed to minimize pollution of the seas, including dumping, oil and exhaust pollution The original MARPOL convention did not consider dumping from ships, but was revised in 1978 to include restrictions on marine vessels.
  
  BULLET::::- UNCLOS- signed in 1982, but effective in 1994, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea emphasized the importance of protecting the entire ocean and not only specified coastal regions. UNCLOS enforced restrictions on pollution, including a stress on land-based sources. Regulations imposed by this agreement have potential to help mediate effects of climate change.
   Satellites frequently have to perform Collision Avoidance Maneuvers and managers have to monitor debris as part of maneuver planning. For example, in January 2017, the European Space Agency planned to alter orbit of one of its $319 million Swarm mission spacecrafts, based on data from the US Joint Space Operations Center, to end the risk of collision from Cosmos-375, an old Russian satellite. Cosmos-375, which was destroyed by Soviet operators when its mission was complete, had previously threatened to impact the International Space Station in 2011.
  
  Section::::Threats.:To spacecraft.:Manned spacecraft.
  
  Section::::Threats.:To spacecraft.:Manned spacecraft.:Space Shuttle missions.
   Space debris is classified by size and operational purpose, and divided into four main subsets: inactive payloads, operational debris, fragmentation debris and microparticulate matter. Inactive payloads refer to any launched space objects that have lost the capability to reconnect to its corresponding space operator; thus, preventing a return to Earth. In contrast, operational debris describes the matter associated with the propulsion of a larger entity into space, which may include upper rocket stages and ejected nose cones. Fragmentation debris refers to any object in space that has become dissociated from a larger entity by means of explosion, collision or deterioration. Microparticulate matter describes space matter that typically cannot be seen singly with the naked eye, including particles, gases, and spaceglow.
   BULLET::::- Nickolay Smirnov, "Space Debris: Hazard Evaluation and Mitigation". Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2002, .
  
  BULLET::::- Richard Talcott, "How We Junked Up Outer Space", "Astronomy", Volume 36, Issue 6 (June 2008), pp. 40–43.
  
  BULLET::::- "Technical report on space debris, 1999", United Nations, 2006. .
  
  Section::::External links.
  
  BULLET::::- Sativew – Tracking Space Junk in real time
  
  BULLET::::- NASA Orbital Debris Program Office
  
  BULLET::::- ESA Space Debris Office
  
  BULLET::::- "Space: the final junkyard", documentary film
  
  BULLET::::- Would a Saturn-like ring system around planet Earth remain stable? Abdul Ahad
  
  BULLET::::- EISACT Space Debris during the international polar year
   To further complicate matters, international agreements on the regulation of such a program would need to be established.
  
  Costs and inadequate reliability of modern rocket launch systems for space disposal has been one of the motives for interest in non-rocket space launch systems such as mass drivers, space elevators, and other proposals.
  
  Section::::Management.:National management plans.
   Orbital debris expert Darren McKnight stated that the car poses no risk because it is far from Earth orbit. He added: "The enthusiasm and interest that [Musk] generates more than offsets the infinitesimally small 'littering' of the cosmos." Tommy Sanford, director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, said that the car and its rocket stage are no more "space junk" than the mundane material usually launched on other test flights. Mass simulators are often deliberately placed in a graveyard orbit or sent on a deep space trajectory, where they are not a hazard. Hugh Lewis, an expert in space debris at the University of Southampton, tweeted "Intentionally launching a car to a long-lived orbit is not what you want to hear from a company planning to fly 1000s satellites in LEO."
  
presuppositions: Companies like SpaceX will pollute space by sending junk. Companies like spaceX send junk and garbage into orbit.
corrections: Companies like SpaceX aren't sending junk, they are sending up purposeful craft. Companies like spaceX send useful items into orbit with a purpose.
raw_presuppositions: Companies like SpaceX will pollute space by sending junk. Companies like spaceX send junk and garbage into orbit.
raw_corrections: Companies like SpaceX aren't sending junk, they are sending up purposeful craft. Companies like spaceX send useful items into orbit with a purpose.