Space Junks
Posted in General, Science, Facts, Photos on April 14th, 2009 by ahwe!There are approximately 560 satellites operating in the Earth’s orbit, out of ~8,000 man-made objects in total. Satellites have an operating lifespan between five to twenty years after which they will continue to stay in the orbit as space junk or incinerated upon re-entry to the Earth’s atmosphere.
Currently, the former Soviet states launch about 1,300 satellites into the orbit per year, the USA about 1,000, Japan 100, China 50, France 40, India 30, the UK 25, and a few from Australia and Israel.
Some satellites, called microsats, nanosats, or picosats, can be as small as 10 cm in diameter and 0.1 kg in mass.
