An international group of scientists is calling on the UN to urgently address the problem of space debris in orbit and include it in the plan to achieve a better future for humanity, known as the Sustainable Development Goals.. Space debris threatens not only working satellites in orbit, but also the atmosphere of our planet, which could exacerbate global climate change, writes Space.

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Scientists from the US and UK what the UN should include in the Sustainable Development Goals, created in 2015 and aimed at eradicating hunger and poverty, improving access to health care, education, clean water and sanitation for the world's population, and protecting the climate from climate change,. Researchers say urgent need to prevent planetary crisis before it's too late.

In the nearly 70 years since history's first satellite was launched into orbit, humanity has come to rely on space technology for many aspects of modern life, including communications, the Internet and navigation..

Just 15 years ago there were fewer than 1,000 satellites in orbit, but since then their number has grown almost 10 times. These satellites are used not only to provide communications, Internet and satellite navigation, but also to observe the Earth. Scientists believe that the number of satellites will continue to grow and there is already a threat of a major catastrophe in orbit..

When satellites finish their work, they turn into space debris, which can collide with working satellites, which creates new pieces of debris in orbit..

Scientists are already sounding the alarm about the growing amount of space debris in orbit.. Their calculations show that there are more than 40,000 pieces of space debris larger than 10 centimeters, more than 1,000,000 pieces of space debris between one and ten centimeters in size, and approximately 130,000,000 pieces smaller than one centimeter orbiting the Earth..

These debris rotate around the Earth at a speed of approximately 8 km/s and threaten to destroy everything in its path. Scientists believe that in the near future a cascade of collisions between space debris will begin, which will lead to even more debris. And they could damage many working satellites in orbit.. Although this process may have already begun, which causes even greater concern.

The rapid growth in the number of satellites has led to an increased risk of collisions and space debris, scientists say.. In 2024 alone, the number of threatening encounters between space debris and working satellites in orbit increased by 17%..

Considering that there are more than 12.5 thousand satellites in orbit, including more than 3,000 non-functional devices, it is urgent to take measures to protect the near-Earth space from space debris so that future generations have access to space, scientists say.

Scientists are also concerned that inactive satellites are burning up in the Earth's atmosphere, leading to the formation of aluminum oxide, which could destroy the ozone layer and change the Earth's ability to reflect sunlight.. If nothing is done about this problem, it will only worsen climate change, scientists say.

As Focus already wrote, astronomers have revealed the secret of the famous Ring Nebula. Scientists were able to figure out the exact shape of the Ring Nebula and it turned out that it is not round, but an invisible object is hiding inside.

Focus also wrote that scientists have discovered an unexpected way to predict the occurrence of solar flares dangerous for our planet.. This method is directly related to one of the features of our star.