Space junk can destroy satellites, scientists say

At least 170 million pieces of rapidly-moving space junk are now circulating in Earth's orbit and this debris may even lead to a "catastrophic avalanche of collisions" and destroy all working satellites and even threaten economies, scientists said.

"The space junk problem has been getting worse every year," head of Australia's Space Environment Research Centre, Ben Greene, told AFP.

Some 170 million pieces of debris or 'space junk' are currently orbiting Earth and only 22,000 are tracked, said Greene, who's currently hosting a conference among international space scientists in Canberra.

"We're losing three or four satellites a year now to space debris collision. We're very close, NASA estimates, of within five to 10 years of losing everything," Greene said, adding that "a catastrophic avalanche of collisions which could quickly destroy all...