Blackbird Interactive’s vision of an Earth ringed by inexpertly butchered derelicts is hardly years away. As of May 10, 2022, the European Space Agency is tracking 31,140 pieces of orbital debris, weighing about 9,900 tonnes in total and ranging from ‘natural’ litter such as meteoroids to human-created space junk such as discarded rocket launch stages.
Based on statistical modelling, the ESA estimates that there are