The US and Russia have transformed the atmosphere with space debris, but who is cleaning it up? – 7NEWS

Earths orbit has reportedly become a junkyard of dead satellites and abandoned rocket bodies, following decades of launches since the dawn of the space age in 1957.

The vast majority of space junk still in orbit, and its largely being blamed on two major players: the US and Russia.

See the plan to crash the International Space Station into the Pacific Ocean in the video above

The effort to clean up the orbital junkyard has not been led by the US and Russia, however. Instead, its being spearheaded by Japan, the European Space Agency (ESA), and private companies.

The excessive clouds of abandoned materials within Earths atmosphere are a growing problem that pose potential threats to future space exploration, and unknown long-term effects to the atmosphere.

An emergency evacuation was also planned by the International Space Station after a Russian antisatellite missile test created a massive debris cloud nearby, and in 2016, they were hit by a piece of debris which cracked a window on the orbiting outpost.

US Space Command is currently tracking more than 40,000 objects in space, and only 5000 of those are active satellites, according to the US Department of Defence.

If these space crafts were left there by the US government, and in general they were, then that becomes their responsibility to clean it up, Former Deputy Assistant of US Defence Security Doug Loverro.

In the same way that the military would not leave a broken down tank on the battle field, nor would it go ahead and leave a derelict ship at sea.

Some companies, like ClearSpace, are using robotic tentacles to snatch the floating debris, others are using large-scale nets.

In August, space sustainability company Astroscale successfully tested a magnetic arm, using it to catch a small satellite.

We use a robotic arm, that extends and attaches to that metallic plate, Astroscale president Ron Lopez said.

That allows us to basically perform a tow truck or a tug service bringing that satellite down to a safe distance, and then we can release it to naturally and safely burn up in the atmosphere.

If these space crafts were left there by the US government, and in general they were, then that becomes their responsibility to clean it up, - Former Deputy Assistant of US Defence Security Doug Loverro

The company now has debris removal contracts with the UK, the European Union, and Japan.

In the US, unfortunately, we havent gotten as much traction from the US government, Mr Lopez said.

The Biden administration has began to change that, reportedly holding meetings with experts to discover how to perform a clean up.

The US Space Force is launching a program called Orbital Prime, that will give companies the seed funding to take the first leap.

As the number of rocket launches increases, the more space junk there will be - and its unclear what the long-term effects on the atmosphere may be.

The quantity of human materials in orbit is only increasing more rapidly with the launch of megaconstellations of communication satellites, like Starlink, SpaceXs plan to provide low-cost satellite Internet access.

While the effects may be small-scale at the moment, the number of satellites could increase from about 6,000 to 15,000 in the coming decade.

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The US and Russia have transformed the atmosphere with space debris, but who is cleaning it up? - 7NEWS