The main cause of space debris

Jalopnik reported that SpaceX is responsible for most of the space junk.

The site's journalists point out that they studied the report of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs on the amount of debris in space. It turned out that in 2023 there were 2,664 objects in space that are generally considered to be waste. And 2,166 of them are related to the US space program.

“The United States bears a large responsibility for the increase in space debris, but there must be someone behind this increase,” the journalists assert. “They believe that SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk, bears responsibility for this increase because, according to Jalopnik experts, 90 percent of the objects launched into space from the United States belong to this company. For example, in 2023 alone, 98 of the 223 launches in the world were by Musk’s company, leaving behind a lot of waste.”

For comparison, the countries' share of space waste in 2023 was, respectively: Russia 62, Britain 144, China 128, Japan 11, France 10, India 6 and Germany 2.