New “star signs” made from defunct satellites and old rocket parts have been identified above Earth to highlight the worsening space debris problem.
The project, titled Space Trash Signs, is a collaboration between space sustainability company Privateer, German design agency Moby Digg, visual artist Frank Gräf and communications agency Serviceplan Innovation. Space debris constellations can be explored in a dedicated location Websitein stargazing apps and in a special program shown at planetariums around the world.
The project aims to draw attention to the growing problem of space debris ahead of a June meeting of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, which will discuss measures needed to keep space around Earth clean, the authors said in a statement.
Related: 6 types of objects that could cause a space junk apocalypse
The constellations were constructed from actual space debris tracking data collected by Privateer, but unlike their better-known star constellations, they cannot be observed from Earth. In reality, each constellation only existed for one brief moment, as space debris orbits the Earth at over 17,000 mph (27,359 kilometers per hour).
Artificial intelligence was used to find patterns in the Privateer data, and the constellations were then time-stamped to mark the moment they were discovered, a project spokesperson told Space.com in an email.
Clicking on each node of each constellation displays information about the debris that makes up the node, including its size, name, and the expected cost to remove it from orbit.
The constellation was chosen to highlight the most devastating consequences of the space debris problem. For example, Broken Compass, seen over Bermuda in January 2023, points to the damage that space debris could do to global positioning and navigation satellites such as the US GPS or Europe’s Galileo system if it were to hit them.
Similarly, The Great 404 – captured over West Africa in February 2023 – signifies the consequences of the destruction of internet transmission satellites that connect isolated communities around the world. The Unavailable Forecast captured over India in April 2023 is a symbol of the uncertainty the world would face if it lost its weather satellites. In total, the collection consists of ten constellations.
“There are some internationally agreed guidelines for debris cleanup and prevention, but none of these mechanisms are enforceable,” Moriba Jah, Privateer’s chief scientist, said in a statement. “If we don’t change our behavior, the space will become unusable.”
There are more than 160 million pieces of human-made space junk currently orbiting Earth. These objects range from entire old satellites and used rocket stages to tiny debris from collisions between larger objects. With the growing number of satellites in orbit, fueled by the advent of small satellites and internet-beaming constellations like SpaceX’s Starlink, the risk of orbital collisions is skyrocketing.
While satellites can maneuver their thrusters to avoid collisions, the bigger problem is that the positions and trajectories of smaller debris are unknown, and their impacts are often a complete surprise.
Experts fear that without precautionary measures – such as removing larger pieces of debris – the space around Earth could become completely unusable. The increasing frequency of collisions could lead to a situation known as Kessler syndrome, first predicted by former NASA physicist Donald Kessler in the late 1970s. Kessler syndrome is essentially an unstoppable collision cascade in which debris from each new collision causes more impacts, producing more debris and more collisions.