Earth is forming Saturn-like rings 'made up of space junk'

Along with pollution on land, in water and in the air, Earth now faces additional orbital pollution due to an increase in space junk. Earth's orbit is on track to become a scrap yard in our solar system.

(Photo: Timothy Hodgkinson/Shutterstock)

Four of the neighboring planets in our solar system - Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus - pride themselves on possessing spectacular rings, especially Saturn, which is made up of ice, rock fragments, and cosmic dust. And our Earth also seems to be forming orbital rings, however, the difference is that it is man-made – from satellite fragments, rockets and other space collisions.

Researcher Jake Abbott of the University of Utah said that 'Earth of course has its own rings. They're just made up of space junk'.

The US Department of Defense and NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office keep detailed records of objects orbiting the Earth. There are currently about 23,000 large pieces of debris in orbit along with millions of smaller pieces. About 200 to 400 pieces are thought to fall back to Earth every year, and most of them burn up in the atmosphere before they can harm people and structures on Earth.

However, at 17,500 mph, 10 times the speed of a bullet, they pose a serious threat to tourism and aerospace research. This prompted researchers in Utah to devote themselves to researching safe and economic ways to clean up Earth's orbit.

NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office is monitoring about 27,000 groups of space junk that are threatening Earth. (Photo: NASA)

Research is increasingly needed as the commercial space race intensifies, with observers certain to see more objects scattered across the night sky, and thus potentially more litter. SpaceX founder Elon Musk, as well as Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, have each announced plans to launch tens of thousands of new satellites in the coming years.

Just last week, Russia's space agency shot down one of its expired satellites without warning, the nearly 2.5-ton satellite exploded, causing the crew on the National Space Station to explode. The economy panicked at the potential impact and thousands of debris scattered in orbit.

The key to Abbott's research, published last month in the journal Nature, lies in magnetism. 'We basically made the world's first tractor beam,' the mechanical engineering professor told the Salt Lake Tribune. 'Now it's just a question of engineering, how to build a proper design and launch it. '