Space Junk Think your bedroom is untidy? Well you should see space! Weʼve sent so much stuff up there over the last 50-years, space looks like a junkyard. What a tip! The objects that orbit Earth are things like old satellites and bits of metal from explosions. These are objects that we no longer use anymore. Someone should really get some astro bin men to clean it up! The number of pieces of space trash up there is enormous there are even old rockets – what a waste! Itʼs a squeeze! There is so much space junk up there that when we launch rockets we have to be super precise about where we aim them. Just in case they hit something on the way out! The International Space Station gets a constant bashing from space junk too. But donʼt worry. They have shield called a Whipping Bumper to whip any objects out of their way! Whatʼs sent up must come down! These objects orbiting Earth fall back to our planet every day. Lots of people have mistaken these falling objects for UFOs and think aliens are visiting us! Sometimes satellites hit buildings or just fall right into the sea, so remember if you see something falling from the sky, other than rain, take cover! Recycle! Itʼs so expensive to send things up into space that it would cost £3000 just to send up a can of coke! We canʼt send up a team to go and collect all of the rubbish so weʼll just have to recycle it. Scientists are attempting to move the rubbish into something called a ʻgraveyard orbitʼ further away from Earth so that future astronauts can reuse the objects when they get up there. What a brilliant idea! So when your mum tells you to clean up your room, just remember nothing can be as messy as what is floating around in space!
For Launchpad magazine
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