Space debris represents a risk to spacecraft. In addition to derelict man-made objects left in orbit, other examples of space debris include fragments from their disintegration, erosion and collisions or even paint flecks, solidified liquids expelled from spacecraft, and unburned particles from solid rocket motors. These include derelict spacecraft-nonfunctional spacecraft and abandoned launch vehicle stages-mission-related debris, and particularly numerous in Earth orbit, fragmentation debris from the breakup of derelict rocket bodies and spacecraft.
Space debris (also known as space junk, space pollution, space waste, space trash, or space garbage) is defunct artificial objects in space-principally in Earth orbit-which no longer serve a useful function.
