In 2007, China tested an anti-satellite weapon test, destroying a defunct weather satellite, causing 150,000 pieces larger than one centimeter to scatter throughout our orbit. In 2009, two satellites, one of which was currently in use, crashed into each other, causing more debris to scatter throughout our planet’s orbit. It turns out that it’s becoming rather crowded up in space, and it’s getting to the point where the amount of trash is becoming very dangerous.

There are over 22,000 pieces of debris large enough to be tracked and countless smaller pieces, which are equally as dangerous. The International Space Station (ISS), according to BBC, sometimes must dodge this junk, which flies unrestrained around our planet, sometimes as fast as 17,500 miles per hour.

Recently, in June, the six crew team of the ISS had to evacuate to escape as space junk came close to hitting the station. Since there is no air or gravity in space, nothing slows down unless acted upon by an external force, such as colliding with another object. The biggest issue so far is that nobody seems to have specific ideas about how to stop this from occurring.

Donald Kessler, a retired scientist from NASA, said on the issue, “We’ve lost control of the environment.” So far, the only idea comes in the form of a “Catcher’s Mitt,” a range of devices including harpoons, nets, and umbrella-shaped devices that would force the debris lower into the Earth’s atmosphere, where it would burn up, or higher into our orbit so that it wouldn’t be a problem. Only time will tell what the true solution to this problem will be.