Space debris

Space debris or orbital debris, also called space junk and space waste, are the artificial objects in orbit around worlds that no longer serve any useful purpose. They consist of everything from spacecraft parts, spent fuel tanks and defunct satellites to explosion fragments, paint flakes, dust and slag from engines, released coolant, and other small particles.

Before the invention of energy shields, even small amounts of debris could be fatal to unshielded spacecraft. Because of this, release of space junk is often strictly controlled by law and the act of space littering is a criminal offense. The cleaning of orbits from large space debris is typically the duty of local planetary administrations, also in charge of traffic control. Special spacecraft, such as space tractors, are used to remove, collect, recycle or destroy the objects so spacecraft may operate freely.