A chunk of Chinese satellite almost hit the International Space Station. They dodged it – but the space junk problem is getting worse

By Mark Rigby, Adjunct Research Fellow, University of Southern Queensland
Brad Carter, Professor (Physics), University of Southern Queensland

Earlier this week, the International Space Station (ISS) was forced to maneouvre out of the way of a potential collision with space junk. With a crew of astronauts and cosmonauts on board, this required an urgent change of orbit on November 11.

Over the station’s 23-year orbital lifetime, there have been about 30 close encounters with orbital debris requiring evasive action. Three of these near-misses occurred in 2020. In May this year there was a hit: a tiny piece of space junk punched…

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