The amount of space junk orbiting earth has reached a ‘tipping point’ and is rapidly getting out of control. A report commissioned by NASA warns that all of this debris that has built up in Earth’s orbit poses ‘potentially catastrophic risk’ to astronauts, satellites and the International Space Station. The amount of the junk out in space is growing at an exponential rate and the US National Research Council report suggests developing a clean-up strategy, the technology for which could include catching debris with nets, magnets or even giant umbrellas. The rubbish could be pulled into the atmosphere to burn up, or else forced further out into space.

Russia’s space agency and its mulit-national partners have said that they plan to let the International Space Station (ISS) fall into the ocean when it reaches the end of its lifecycle. Why? Because left alone the ISS would be an enormous bundle of space junk that posed too great a risk. “After it completes its existence, we will be forced to sink the ISS. It cannot be left in orbit, it’s too complex, too heavy an object, it can leave behind lots of rubbish” said Vitaly Davydov, deputy head of Russia’s space agency.