Kessler Syndrome: Space junk is clouding Earth's orbit.

 Why do some scientists believe that the space disaster scenario has already begun, and what is "Kessler Syndrome"?

Adding together exposures taken over 30 minutes on an early June night, a composite image depicts the satellite-filled sky.

TrendingAyee-The seven astronauts on board braced themselves in November as a piece of spaceborne trash swerved toward the ISS.

In order to move the football-field-sized laboratory out of danger and somewhat alter the station's course, a Russian spacecraft linked to the station turned on its engines for five minutes. NASA said the debris might have passed within 2 ½ miles (4 kilometers) of the space station's orbital route if it hadn't altered its course.
Disaster might have resulted from debris hitting the space station. Parts of the station might have been depressurized by an impact, forcing the astronauts to hurry home.

More worrisome, the possible strike was not an extremely uncommon occurrence. Since it was originally staffed in November 2000, the International Space Station has had to perform similar maneuvers hundreds of times, and the number of spacecraft in orbit above Earth is increasing annually, increasing the chance of collisions.

Experts in space traffic have been warning about the growing congestion for years. Tens of thousands of bits of debris from previous crashes, explosions, and weapons tests are being tracked by scientists, and there may be millions more that are invisible with current technology.
Congestion in orbit poses a threat not just to astronauts but also to satellites and space-based systems that run our daily lives, such as GPS devices, some broadband, high-speed internet, and television services.The modern definition of Kessler Syndrome, which bears the name of American astrophysicist Donald Kessler and is based on his 1978 scholarly publication, remains unclear.

However, the term refers to a situation in which space debris triggers a domino effect: An explosion releases a plume of particles that collide with other spaceborne objects, producing more detritus. Space exploration may have to come to a grinding halt if the debris buildup in Earth's orbit becomes so bad that satellites can no longer function.
"In the past four years, we have launched an exponentially greater number of objects into space," stated Dr. Vishnu Reddy, a planetary sciences professor at the University of Arizona in Tucson. "Therefore, we are approaching the circumstance that we constantly fear."

Retired astrophysicist and former NASA scientist Donald Kessler attends the European Conference on Space Debris at the European Space Agency in

 Darmstadt, Germany, on April 18, 2017.

Kessler Syndrome is a fictitious phenomenon that is the occurrence that Reddy was referring to.
The modern definition of Kessler Syndrome, which bears the name of American astrophysicist Donald Kessler and is based on his 1978 scholarly publication, remains unclear.

However, the term refers to a situation in which space debris triggers a domino effect: An explosion releases a plume of particles that collide with other spaceborne objects, producing more detritus. Space exploration may have to come to a grinding halt if the debris buildup in Earth's orbit becomes so bad that satellites can no longer function.
Regarding the precise moment when space congestion may reach the point of no return and the existing level of risk, researchers cannot agree.

How frequently do things in space collide?
According to the European Space Agency, there have been around 650 "break-ups, explosions, collisions, or anomalous events resulting in fragmentation" since spaceflight began in 1957.

These have included satellites that have unintentionally collided, rocket components and spacecraft that have detonated without warning, and weapons tests by countries including the US, Russia, India, and China that have thrown debris at different orbital heights.

For instance, during a 2021 weapons test, Russia fired a missile against one of its own satellites, producing almost 1,500 pieces of debris that could be tracked down.


However, based on CNN interviews with scientists and space traffic experts, there is broad agreement that space traffic is a severe issue that urgently has to be addressed.

When a defunct Russian military satellite, Kosmas 2251, collided with Iridium 33, an operational communications satellite run by the US-based telecom company Iridium, in February 2009, it was the last significant unintentional collision between two spaceborne objects. A huge cloud of debris, about 2,000 pieces, nearly 4 inches (10 centimeters) in diameter, and hundreds of smaller pieces were created by that incident.

Smaller-scale occurrences are also frequent: Leola's, a business that tracks objects in space, said Monday that a US Air Force weather satellite, for instance, broke apart in orbit on December 19, producing at least 50 new bits of debris. It was merely the most recent of four "fragmentation" incidents that occurred in the previous few months and produced