Space debris in 3D
Every tracked object around Earth: working satellites, dead ones, spent rocket stages and the fragments of collisions.
32,731 objects are tracked in orbit right now; 10,338 of them are debris fragments.
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Drag to rotate the Earth. Positions are approximate (tens to hundreds of km); each satellite's page has its exact position.
About space debris
More than 30,000 objects bigger than about 10 cm are tracked around Earth. Only some of them are working satellites; the rest are dead satellites, rocket stages left in orbit and fragments from explosions and collisions.
Far more are too small to track: an estimated million-plus pieces measure 1 to 10 cm. At 7 to 8 km per second even a small one can disable a satellite.
A few events made a large share of today's debris: China's 2007 anti-satellite test on Fengyun-1C, the 2009 collision of Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251, and Russia's 2021 test on Kosmos 1408.
Too much debris could set off a chain of collisions (the Kessler syndrome), which is why satellites are now expected to leave orbit soon after their mission ends.