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Loading contentDefunct satellites, spent rocket stages, and fragments left in Earth orbit. Travelling at kilometres per second, even a small piece can destroy a working spacecraft, and collisions create more debris — a growing hazard in low Earth orbit.
Facts on this topic will be cited from these primary and reference sources.
Mission data, planetary science, space telescopes, and public-domain imagery.
Most NASA-produced imagery is in the public domain; individual items are checked for usage terms before publication.
European missions, observatories, and space science imagery.