Space Security, Safety, & Sustainability Program Lead Dr. Moriba Jah recently published an article in the Scientific American about the buildup of debris in space. Dr. Jah highlights the  amount of objects launched into space each year has reached an unsustainable pace, with over 25,000 trackable objects currently orbiting Earth. The amount of space debris poses risk to satellites, the International Space Station, and threatens to make orbital space unusable. Dr. Jah highlights the need to shift to a “circular space economy,” emphasizing waste-management strategies including reusing and recycling materials from defunct satellites already in orbit.

“Currently all satellites become trash when their primary mission ends, and new satellites are built from entirely new materials,” writes Jah. “It’s a huge waste, much like our junkyards for used cars and other vehicles. Researchers are working on ways to harvest materials from dead spacecraft to integrate into new vehicles and to use techniques to build new satellites out of used parts.”

Read Dr. Jah’s full article on space debris mitigation strategies here.