There is now believed to be an astonishing 170 million pieces of junk floating in Earths upper atmosphere, but only 34,000 are being tracked. Some 7,000 tonnes of space junk circle our planet, as defunct satellites, junk from rockets and other metals and rocks build up close to Earth. Experts have previously warned that as space debris increases, it will make it harder for rockets to escape Earths orbit out of fear of colliding with an object, known as the Klesser syndrome.

Not only does it pose a threat to space travel, but technologies such as mobile phones, television, GPS and weather related services also rely on satellites, so a cataclysmic series of crashes could pose a threat to our already over-reliance for satellites.

Now, one expert has revealed the true extent of the congestion above Earth.

Professor Hugh Lewis from the University of Southampton ran simulations to reveal that if current levels of orbit congestion contiue to rise, with roughly 20 satellites put into space each year, there will be a satellite collision every 50 years.

However, for every 50 years that passed over the 1,000 year simulation, the number of collisions doubles some 1,000 kilometres above the surface.

The simulation ran in accordance with the 25 year rule which dictates that satellite users must spend no longer than 25 years 1,000km above Earth - regarded as the safe zone - before the satellite has to be moved or destroyed.

Prof Lewis said: The simulations included launches that placed fewer than 20 satellites per year into orbit at altitudes above 1000km and only one or two of these were left there once the 25-year rule had been applied to the others.

Even with our best countermeasures, this was enough to cause the amount of space debris there to grow uncontrollably.

The problem is that our best countermeasures slow the pace of the collision cascading to such an extent that it is impossible to observe in the current 200 year simulations.

READ MORE:Space junk: Terrifying tool reveals debris threatening satellites

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Space news: Space debris could grow uncontrollably and trap humans on Earth FOREVER - Express.co.uk