Dangers of Low-Earth Orbit - Stock-Fotografie

Artwork showing two of the potential dangers of low-Earth orbit. Since the late 1950s, the amount of junk in orbit around the Earth has escalated dramatically. The debris includes pieces of old spacecraft and objects accidentally dropped by astronauts during 'space walks'. Another source of potential danger are flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) from the Sun. The artwork shows a satellite damaged by an impact with debris, with a flare encroaching from top left.