Opinion: To Tackle Space Debris, ISRO's "Swachh Antriksh Abhiyan"

Space may be the last frontier, but surprise, surprise, there is both pollution and congestion in outer space. Yes, all human-made. A 2023 assessment by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) finds there are 27,000 catalogued space objects, of which 80 per cent is space debris.

"There are millions of space objects less than 10 cm in size that are uncatalogued and pose a very dangerous situation for space assets," says S Somanath, ISRO chairman.

Another threat of space debris comes from anti-satellite tests, and such weapons capability exists only with China, US, India and Russia.