The out-of-control rockets and spacecraft that have come crashing back to Earth REVEALED in terrifying interactive map - as scientists warn there's a 10% chance falling debris will kill someone in the next decade
- Interactive map shows landing sites of most dangerous pieces of space junk
- Experts warn growing levels of space junk could lead to fatal accidents
It's one of the most basic laws of physics – what goes up must come down.
And for the tens of thousands of objects currently orbiting Earth, this simple rule is becoming an increasingly dangerous problem.
In May alone, the UK Space Agency monitored 56 'uncontrolled re-entries' in which satellites and other objects fell back to Earth - an increase of 155 per cent on April.
From a house in Florida to a farm in North Carolina, this interactive map reveals some of the most dangerous incidents in which space debris has crashed back down to Earth.
It comes as scientists warn there is a 10 per cent chance that an out-of-control rocket or spacecraft could kill someone within the next decade.
The interactive map shows both the launch and landing points for some of the most shocking space debris crashes in history.
The records date as far back as 1978 with the crash of the Soviet spy satellite Kosmos 954 right up to the re-entry of Chinese rockets this June.
To learn more about any of the incidents simply tap on the red line connecting the launch and crash site to bring up more details.
You can also pan and zoom in on the map to see more by clicking and dragging.
It is worth noting that the lines representing the flight of these objects have been simplified as many spent months, if not years, in orbit around the planet.
You may notice that many of the pieces of space debris come from similar locations.
A series of crashes have been caused by the re-entry of Chinese Long March rocket systems.
These very powerful multistage rockets are the workhorse of the Chinese space programme and are frequently used to launch satellites for civilian and military purposes.
However, as the stages are jettisoned some undergo uncontrolled re-entry into Earth's orbit.
While many burn up in the atmosphere, large pieces of rocket chassis have recently fallen on areas around China and India.
Most recently this June, what appeared to be a large piece of a Long March rocket fell over a populated village in rural China.
And on June 24, dramatic video showed large pieces of equipment falling to the sky falling from the sky trailing thick clouds of yellow smoke.
Last month, video appeared to show as the core of a Chinese Long March-2C rocket segment fell over a village in Sichuan, China
This occurred shortly after a Long March 2C carrier rocket launched from the nearby Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern province of Sichuan.
This incident was particularly worrying due to the fact that Long March rockets use a liquid propellant consisting of nitrogen tetroxide and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine.
These compounds produce a signature yellow smoke which is toxic and carcinogenic, Markus Schiller, a rocket expert from Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, told CNN at the time.
However, looking at this graphic you will also see that there are a large amount of debris originates from America – particularly from Florida.
A number of these are debris from rockets and capsules used in Elon Musk's SpaceX mission.
In May, huge chunks of debris were found in a farmer's field in rural Saskatchewan, Western Canada.
The fragments were huge, measuring six feet (two metres) across and weighing more than 40kg (90lbs).
It is believed that these were produced by the uncontrolled re-entry of a SpaceX Crew Dragon 'trunk' (storage) section which had been launched in February.
Since the beginning of the space race, there have only been a handful of incidents in which falling space debris harmed a person or damaged property.
In 2002, a six-year-old boy in Shaanxi, China, became the first person to be injured by a direct strike from space debris.
A large fragment of a SpaceX Dragon Crew spaceship was found in a field in Saskatchewan in June after the rocket broke up in the atmosphere
The UK Space Agency has noted a 115 per cent month to month increase in the number of monitored uncontrolled re-entries of space debris
Large pieces of a SpaceX Crew-1 have also been found in a field in Australia in 2022. This piece was made of carbon fibre and studded with metal bolts
The boy, named Wu Jie, reportedly suffered a fractured toe and swelling on his forehead after a block of aluminum, weighing 10 kilograms struck the tree he was sitting beneath.
In 1992, an Oklahoma woman, named Lottie Williams, was hit, without injury, in the shoulder by a piece of a Delta II rocket that had launched the previous year.
And earlier this year, a cylindrical object weighing almost 1kg smashed through the roof of a home in Naples, Florida.
This was later determined to be part of a battery pallet jettisoned from the International Space Station which had failed to burn up in the atmosphere.
Yet despite these terrifying incidents, the actual danger of space debris currently remains fairly low.
A spokesperson for the UK Space Agency told MailOnline: 'Since January, the UK has monitored an average of 23 re-entering space objects per month.
Earlier this year, in an extremely rare incident of property damage, a home in Naples, Florida was damaged by a piece of space debris
According to UKSA data, there are now 28,850 objects in space, around 9,000 of which are active satellites. Starlink alone has put almost 7,000 satellites in orbit
'Statistically, debris from re-entering objects presents a low risk to both life and property because most of the Earth is covered by water and the majority of land is unpopulated.'
The spokesperson adds: 'There are no recorded instances of serious injuries caused by re-entering space debris.'
Jake Foster, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, told MailOnline: 'The vast majority of space debris that falls to Earth is so small that it burns up entirely in the atmosphere on its way down, posing no threat to human life.
'Since around 70 per cent of the Earth's surface is covered in water, most larger pieces that do make it down to the surface usually end up splashing down into the oceans.'
But, while Mr Foster maintains you are 'far more likely to be struck by lightning than to be hit by a chunk of space debris', that risk is increasing.
According to data from the UK Space Agency (UKSA), 274 new objects were put into orbit in May of this year bringing the total to 28,850.
By 2030, some estimates predict that there could be as many as 60,000 objects in space – not even counting the thousands of pieces of debris which litter Earth's orbit.
Mr Foster says: 'Over the past two decades, the amount of space debris (or junk) orbiting the Earth has increased substantially.'
As UKSA notes, this has largely been driven by a 95 per cent reduction in the cost of putting objects in space – falling from $65,000 per kilogramme to $1,500 per kilogramme.
The object which fell through the roof was determined to be a piece of a battery pallet jettisoned from the ISS
Although the risk of space debris falling to the ground is very low, as more objects enter orbit the risk becomes increasingly high
Coupled with our increasing dependence on satellite communications, this has led to a boom in private companies placing their own small satellites in orbit.
'A lot of this debris will end up plummeting towards the Earth, sometimes of its own accord and sometimes as part of a deliberate deorbit manoeuvre to dispose of them,' Mr Foster added.
'More debris in space has inevitably led to more of it being seen returning to Earth thanks to gravity.'
One of the biggest risks sources of that risk comes from Elon Musk's Starlink satellite constellations.
Out of the 25,000 objects in space, 6,673 of those are Starlink communications satellites – more than two-thirds of all active satellites in orbit.
Starlink satellites (Pictured) make up two thirds of all active satellites in orbit. The more material in space the higher the risk of an uncontrolled re-entry causing harm
UKSA notes that the 155 per cent monthly increase in falling space debris was largely driven by 'planned re-entries of 'designed-to-demise' small communications satellites'.
If a collision occurred in a densely populated orbit, the debris could hit other satellites, creating more debris and more collisions in something called the Kessler Effect.
Musk's company has already faced heavy criticism after China reported two 'close encounters' between Starlink satellites and Beijing's space station in 2021.
Mr Foster says: 'Space debris poses a serious threat to other space-bound objects, including astronauts.
'While a lot of the debris is tiny, it is often travelling at speeds of around 7 kilometres per second, making it faster than a speeding bullet.
'Only two weeks ago, astronauts on board the International Space Station were instructed to take shelter in their respective spacecraft as a precaution due to a defunct Russian satellite breaking up that was on a near collision course with the ISS.'
Elon Musk has faced criticism for the risk posed by his satellite constellations (pictured). China complained of two 'close encounters' between Starlink satellites and the Chinese space station
The biggest risk of space debris is faced by those already in orbit, but if large satellites fall out of orbit they can cause serious problems.
One of the most serious cases, which you can examine more closely in the interactive graphic, is the disastrous re-entry of the Kosmos 954 in 1978.
As the satellite burnt up in orbit over Canada, radioactive material from the onboard nuclear reactor was scattered over miles of ecologically sensitive countryside.
The disaster triggered a years-long clean-up operation for which the Canadian government billed the Soviet Union CA$3 million for.
This is also the only time that the United Nations' Outer Space Treaty, known as the Space Liability Convention, has ever been triggered.
This makes nations liable for any damages caused by or damages caused by their property in space.
And while the law has rarely been used so far, as the risk of space debris increases it is not inconceivable that we may see it triggered again in the near future.
WHAT IS SPACE JUNK? MORE THAN 170 MILLION PIECES OF DEAD SATELLITES, SPENT ROCKETS AND FLAKES OF PAINT POSE 'THREAT' TO SPACE INDUSTRY
There are an estimated 170 million pieces of so-called 'space junk' - left behind after missions that can be as big as spent rocket stages or as small as paint flakes - in orbit alongside some US$700 billion (£555bn) of space infrastructure.
But only 27,000 are tracked, and with the fragments able to travel at speeds above 16,777 mph (27,000kmh), even tiny pieces could seriously damage or destroy satellites.
However, traditional gripping methods don't work in space, as suction cups do not function in a vacuum and temperatures are too cold for substances like tape and glue.
Grippers based around magnets are useless because most of the debris in orbit around Earth is not magnetic.
Around 500,000 pieces of human-made debris (artist's impression) currently orbit our planet, made up of disused satellites, bits of spacecraft and spent rockets
Most proposed solutions, including debris harpoons, either require or cause forceful interaction with the debris, which could push those objects in unintended, unpredictable directions.
Scientists point to two events that have badly worsened the problem of space junk.
The first was in February 2009, when an Iridium telecoms satellite and Kosmos-2251, a Russian military satellite, accidentally collided.
The second was in January 2007, when China tested an anti-satellite weapon on an old Fengyun weather satellite.
Experts also pointed to two sites that have become worryingly cluttered.
One is low Earth orbit which is used by satnav satellites, the ISS, China's manned missions and the Hubble telescope, among others.
The other is in geostationary orbit, and is used by communications, weather and surveillance satellites that must maintain a fixed position relative to Earth.
