China's Yaogan-50 (02) breakup scatters 43 fragments, could last centuries
Technology
China's Yaogan-50 (02) satellite, launched just this March, unexpectedly broke apart, scattering 43 new pieces of debris into Earth's orbit.
The US Space Force is keeping tabs on these fragments, while scientists are sounding the alarm that some could float around for centuries, making it riskier for other satellites up there.
Debris shares orbit, increasing collision risk
The debris orbits in the same path as the original satellite, which means more chances of it bumping into spacecraft or orbital debris in the future.
Some pieces might stick around way longer, adding to over 1.5 million bits of space junk already circling our planet and making future space missions a lot trickier.