Space debris (also known as space junk , space pollution , space
waste , space trash , space garbage , or cosmic debris) are
defunct human-made objects in space – principally in Earth orbit – which no
longer serve a useful function. These include derelict spacecraft
(nonfunctional spacecraft and abandoned launch vehicle stages), mission-
related debris, and particularly numerous in-Earth orbit, fragmentation debris
from the breakup of derelict rocket bodies and spacecraft.