Two Sides. One Story. You Make the Third.
Carlos Taylhardat | 3 Narratives News | October 1, 2025
“One collision in space can create thousands of fragments — each one moving at 28,000 kilometers an hour.”
In September 2025, the European Space Agency quietly confirmed that two defunct satellites passed within just 50 meters of each other, almost a cosmic near-miss. Had they struck, the blast would have scattered debris across Low Earth Orbit, threatening weather satellites, GPS, and even the International Space Station. It was one of more than 2,000 close calls tracked so far this year.
Why This Matters Now
Earth’s orbit is getting crowded. More than 11,500 satellites are currently circling the planet, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, with half of them launched in just the last five years. Alongside them race an estimated 36,000 pieces of trackable debris larger than 10 centimetres, plus millions of tiny fragments too small to see but fast enough to shatter a spacecraft. NASA scientist Donald Kessler warned back in 1978 that once debris reaches a critical mass, collisions could trigger a chain reaction, the “Kessler Syndrome”, making orbit unusable for generations.
That threat is no longer science fiction. Above quiet fields and crowded cities, invisible fragments streak through the sky. Down below, farmers depend on satellite weather, pilots on GPS, and doctors on emergency links. “If the satellites go down, our forecasts go dark,” said Maria Alvarez, a farmer in northern Mexico who spoke to local radio after a GPS outage earlier this year. “We plant blind.”
Timeline of Space Debris Incidents
- 2007: China tests an anti-satellite missile, destroying a weather satellite and creating more than 3,000 pieces of debris.
- 2009: Iridium 33 (US) and Cosmos 2251 (Russia) collide, adding 2,000 new fragments to orbit.
- 2013: A fragment from that 2009 collision strikes a Russian satellite, showing debris can linger for decades.
- 2021: Russia conducts another anti-satellite test, forcing the ISS crew to take shelter as debris whizzed by.
- 2025: ESA confirms two dead satellites missed each other by just 50 meters — a warning shot of what could come.
Narrative 1: The Tech Titans’ Answer
For engineers and entrepreneurs, orbital debris is not a tragedy — it’s an opportunity. Private companies are racing to build solutions. Japan’s Astroscale is testing magnetic “space tugs” to pull junk out of orbit. Europe’s ClearSpace-1 mission aims to launch robotic arms to capture debris and safely burn it in the atmosphere. SpaceX says its new Starlink satellites are designed to deorbit themselves once their mission ends.
From this view, the problem is simply a market waiting to be served. Companies created the debris, so companies can invent better, cheaper fixes. “The future of orbit is about services — refueling, recycling, deorbiting,” Astroscale CEO Nobu Okada told Reuters. Entrepreneurs argue that governments move too slowly, trapped in diplomacy. If debris cleanup becomes profitable, solutions will scale quickly.
“We cannot wait for decades of diplomacy,” SpaceX founder Elon Musk said last year, defending his company’s approach to design satellites that self-deorbit. “The faster we build, the faster we fix.” In this narrative, the role of government is to fund research, then step aside. Just as private launch companies transformed space access, private cleanup companies will save orbit. The frontier mindset remains alive: let innovation lead.
Narrative 2: The Treaty Builders’ Answer
Diplomats and lawyers see danger in leaving orbit to the marketplace. Space, they argue, is a global commons, like the high seas or Antarctica. It belongs to everyone, not just those who can afford rockets. Letting companies act without international law risks chaos, monopolies, and even conflict.
The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) has been pushing for updated rules. Smaller nations such as Nigeria and Vietnam — which now operate satellites — say they didn’t create the mess but will suffer from it. They argue that the biggest historical polluters, mainly the United States and Russia, should bear the greatest responsibility. “Without binding treaties, the cleanup will favor the wealthy and punish the rest,” said one African delegate during UN debates earlier this year (BBC).
Simonetta Di Pippo, former director of UNOOSA, warned in 2021: “Space is not the Wild West. Without rules, we risk turning orbit into a landfill no one can use.” This narrative calls for a new treaty: one that defines liability, sets traffic rules, and forces polluters to pay. The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 declared space the “province of all mankind.” Lawyers now say it is outdated. They fear that “tech solutions” will just privatize a shared sky.
Narrative 3: The Silent Story
Lost in the arguments between Silicon Valley and the UN are billions of people on Earth who rely on space every day. Farmers checking the weather. Families using GPS to get to work. Entire regions depending on satellites for internet, banking, and emergency relief. None of them launched a rocket. Yet if orbit becomes unusable, they will pay the highest price.
There is also a military shadow. Technologies that capture debris can also disable live satellites — a potential cover for anti-satellite weapons. For smaller nations, the fear is that cleanup missions could mask power plays in orbit. The debate is not just about junk, but about who controls the skies above us.
The silent story is clear: whether through markets or treaties, the stakes go far beyond engineers and diplomats. The question is not just who cleans up space — but who gets to use it at all.
Key Takeaways
- Over 11,500 satellites now orbit Earth, with debris risks rising each year.
- Kessler Syndrome warns of a runaway chain reaction of collisions.
- Tech firms push private solutions — tugs, nets, self-deorbiting satellites.
- Diplomats call for a binding treaty, liability rules, and polluter accountability.
- Everyday users of GPS, weather, and internet services may be the biggest victims.
Questions This Article Answers
- What is orbital debris and why does it matter?
- What is the Kessler Syndrome?
- How are companies trying to clean up space junk?
- What role could international law play in solving the crisis?
- Who bears responsibility for the mess in orbit?
Cover Image
Concept: A cinematic split image — half showing a satellite tangled in broken debris, half showing a farmer on Earth looking up at the sky.
Alt text: “Satellite orbiting Earth surrounded by fragments of space junk, contrasted with a farmer relying on satellite weather, 2025.”
Related reading: When the Lens Lies: AI and the New Era of Photography | Clashing Narratives at the UN
