Click Here: The Potential Threat Of Space Debris

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4.4 • 4.3K Ratings

🗓️ 4 June 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

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Summary

U.S. officials are turning their attention to a pressing problem in space. Not asteroids crashing into earth, but something else: space debris.

Thousands of satellites have been launched into space because our modern life depends on them. There are about 10,000 active satellites in low earth orbit right now. But as more and more of them go up, space is getting crowded.

And where there's crowds, there's waste. Millions of pieces of space debris are circling Earth right now. There are big pieces — everything from dead satellites to spent rocket stages. And tiny ones like blots and paint flecks. But they're all whizzing around at speeds that can be faster than a speeding bullet.

We team up with our friends at the Click Here podcast to take a look at the problem of space debris. We discuss what could happen if an adversary hacks an old satellite and uses it as a weapon.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Keeping up with the news can feel like a 24-hour job.
0:05.0	Luckily, it is our job.
0:07.2	Every hour on the NPR News Now podcast, we take the latest, most important stories happening,
0:11.9	and we package them into five-minute episodes,
0:14.4	so you can easily squeeze them in between meetings and on your way to that thing.
0:19.5	Listen to the NPR News Now podcast. Now.
0:27.7	Satellites, they're key to modern life. When you look up directions or check the weather
0:36.9	forecast for the weekend,
0:38.5	or maybe even get lost in a long hike and need to check your location, you rely on satellites
0:43.6	in space. We're launching more satellites all the time. As more and more go up, space gets
0:49.3	crowded. There are about 10,000 active satellites circling us in low Earth orbit right now. Alongside them,
0:56.7	millions of pieces of space debris circling the Earth. Today, in collaboration with our friends
1:02.3	at Click Here, we look at the problem of space debris, what it could do to our satellite systems and our
1:07.9	way of life. Plus, what happens if a bad actor hacks an old satellite?
1:13.2	Dina Temple Raston joins us after the break to help answer those questions.
1:16.9	She's the host and managing editor of Click Here.
1:19.3	That's a twice-weekly tech news podcast from PRX and recorded future news.
1:24.4	I'm Jen White. You're listening to the 1A podcast.
1:27.1	We'll be back with more of the
1:27.8	conversation in just a moment. Stay with us.
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