Get Ready for the “Kessler Syndrome” to Wreck Outer Space

Space junk in orbit is looking to become our next ecological mess

Clive Thompson
OneZero
Published in
7 min readNov 17, 2021

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Illustration of a satellite breaking up, via the European Space Agency

Back in 1978, the astrophysicist Donald Kessler made an alarming prediction: Space junk could wreck our ability to keep satellites aloft.

In a fascinating paper, Kessler noted that “low earth orbit” — a region between 99 miles and…

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Clive Thompson
OneZero

I write 2X a week on tech, science, culture — and how those collide. Writer at NYT mag/Wired; author, “Coders”. @clive@saturation.social clive@clivethompson.net