Orbital Debris Watch

Earthrise, Apollo 8, NASA
A June Fireball Dropped Meteorites on a Nearly Empty Island in Lake Huron
In June 2026, a fireball over the Ontario-Michigan border scattered dozens of meteorites onto Cockburn Island, a mostly uninhabited island in Lake Huron. Read more...
International Space Station in low Earth orbit, NASA
A Double Boom Rattled New England. NASA Says It Was a Meteor the Size of a Couch.
On May 30, 2026, a meteoroid the size of a couch broke up over the New England coast with a 300-ton-TNT airburst, sending a double sonic boom from New Hampshire... Read more...
Hubble Ultra Deep Field, NASA and ESA
The Sky Is Throwing More Fireballs Than Usual in 2026, and Nobody Can Fully Explain It
In 2026 the American Meteor Society logged a record fireball surge, 3.9 sigma above baseline, with most big events producing sonic booms. Real, natural, and unexplained. Read more...
Earthrise, Apollo 8, NASA
A Meteorite Crashed Through a Houston Roof and Came to Rest on a Bed
In March 2026 a roughly one-ton meteoroid broke up over Houston with a 26-ton-TNT airburst, and a fist-sized meteorite punched through a roof onto a bed. Read more...
Earth from Apollo 17, NASA
Two of the Rarest Meteorites on Earth Fell Nine Days Apart in 2026
In March 2026, two rare HED meteorites, pieces of the asteroid Vesta, fell to Earth nine days apart: suspected diogenites over Europe and confirmed eucrites over Ohio. Read more...
Satellite in low Earth orbit, NASA
A Half-Ton NASA Probe Just Fell Out of Orbit, Uncontrolled
In March 2026, NASA's ~600 kg Van Allen Probe A made an uncontrolled reentry, falling space debris from a satellite that spent years mapping Earth's radiation belts. Read more...
Earth from Apollo 17, NASA
A Falling Rocket Stage Left a Pollution Trail. Scientists Caught It for the First Time.
Scientists detected a lithium pollution plume from a reentering SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage, the first chemical fingerprint of falling space debris in the upper atmosphere. Read more...
Earthrise, Apollo 8, NASA
Scientists Can Now Hear Space Junk Falling, Using Earthquake Sensors
A 2026 method uses seismometers to detect the sonic booms of falling space debris, locating reentry crashes within minutes. Tested on a Shenzhou-15 reentry over California. Read more...
Earthrise, Apollo 8, NASA
Europe Spent 13 Years Making Sure One Dead Satellite Fell Politely
ESA spent 13 years making the ERS-2 satellite reentry as safe as possible. A model for responsibly bringing falling space debris back to Earth. Read more...
Map of all tracked objects in Earth orbit, NASA, February 2024
An Asteroid the Size of 23 Borzois Missed Earth. The Junk That Stays Doesn't.
A passing asteroid got measured in dog lengths. The real story is falling space debris: the 34,000+ objects in orbit that never leave. Space Waste explains. Read more...
International Space Station in low Earth orbit, NASA
In 2021 a Country Blew Up Its Own Satellite. The Space Station Crew Took Shelter.
A 2021 anti-satellite test created a cloud of falling space debris and forced the ISS crew to shelter. When a satellite crash is manufactured on purpose. Read more...
Map of all tracked objects in Earth orbit, NASA
A 20-Tonne Rocket Stage Fell From Orbit and Nobody Could Say Where
A 20-tonne rocket stage made an uncontrolled reentry with no way to predict where it would land. The Long March 5B falling space debris problem. Read more...
Earth seen from Apollo 17, NASA
There Is a Sports Car Orbiting the Sun. We Launched It on Purpose.
There is a Tesla orbiting the Sun, and by definition it is space debris. What counts as space junk, from dead satellites to a falling rocket stage. Read more...
Hubble Ultra Deep Field, NASA and ESA
The 2013 Meteor That Injured 1,500 People Never Touched Anyone
The 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor injured 1,500 people without hitting anyone. Meteor vs satellite crash, and the falling space debris we can actually control. Read more...
Map of all tracked objects in Earth orbit, NASA
In 2009, Two Satellites Crashed at 42,000 km/h. It Had Never Happened Before.
The 2009 Iridium-Cosmos satellite crash was the first hypervelocity collision of two satellites, creating 2,000+ pieces of falling space debris. Read more...
International Space Station in low Earth orbit, NASA
Exactly One Person Has Been Hit by Space Debris. She Was Fine.
Lottie Williams is the only person ever hit by falling space debris, struck by a piece of a Delta II rocket in 1997. The odds, and why they keep rising. Read more...
Hubble Ultra Deep Field, NASA and ESA
A Meteorite Destroyed a Chevy Malibu in 1992. The Car Became Worth More.
A meteorite crushed a Chevy Malibu in 1992 and made it famous. Meteorite vs space debris, and why the satellite crash problem is the one we can actually fix. Read more...
Earthrise, Apollo 8, NASA
In 1979, a Small Australian Town Fined NASA $400 for Littering
When Skylab fell on Australia in 1979, a town fined NASA $400 for littering. A landmark case of falling space debris and uncontrolled satellite reentry. Read more...
Map of all tracked objects in Earth orbit, NASA
The Oldest Human Object in Space Is a 1958 Satellite That Quit in 1964
Vanguard 1, launched 1958, is the oldest space junk in orbit and will stay up for centuries. Why orbital debris is effectively permanent without removal. Read more...

Calibrating Telemetry Link...

Awaiting data stream payload...