Space junk debris cloud discovered in high-traffic orbit 'is a potential minefield' for the costliest satellites

An illustration of Earth with a ring of space junk around it.

Tiny pieces of space junk only 2 inches (5 centimeters) in size are cluttering a valuable orbital region where some of the costliest satellites reside, a new study has found.

Researchers from the University of Warwick in the U.K. found that the geostationary orbit — a region of space at the altitude of 22,000 miles (36,000 kilometers) — is full of dangerous, previously unseen bits of space junk that could destroy satellites.