The latest figures related to space debris, provided by ESA's Space Debris Office at ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany.
Information last updated on 12 September 2023
Number of rocket launches since the start of the space age in 1957
About 6420 (excluding failures)
Number of satellites these rocket launches have placed into Earth orbit
About 15880
Number of these still in space
About 10590
Number of these still functioning
About 8800
Number of debris objects regularly tracked by Space Surveillance Networks and maintained in their catalogue
About 35290
Estimated number of break-ups, explosions, collisions, or anomalous events resulting in fragmentation
More than 640
Total mass of all space objects in Earth orbit
More than 11000 tonnes
Not all objects are tracked and catalogued. The number of debris objects estimated based on statistical models to be in orbit (MASTER-8, future population 2021):
36'500 space debris objects greater than 10 cm
1'000'000 space debris objects from greater than 1 cm to 10 cm
130'000'000 space debris objects from greater than 1 mm to 1 cm