Scientists Devise Way to Track Space Junk as It Falls to Earth

Earthquake-detecting seismometers pinpoint sounds of space debris entering the atmosphere.

Space debris—the thousands of pieces of human-made objects abandoned in Earth's orbit—pose a risk to humans when they fall to the ground. To locate possible crash sites, a Johns Hopkins University scientist has helped to devise a way to track falling debris using existing networks of earthquake-detecting seismometers.

The new tracking method generates more detailed information in near real-time than authorities have today—information that will help to quickly locate and retrieve the charred and sometimes toxic remains.

"Re-entries are happening more frequently," said lead author Benjamin Fernando, a postdoctoral research fellow who studies earthquakes on Earth, Mars, and other planets in the solar system. "Last year, we had multiple satellites entering our atmosphere each day, and we don't have independent verification of where they entered, whether they broke up into pieces, if they burned up in the atmosphere, or if they made it to the ground. This is a growing problem, and it's going to keep getting worse."

Read More: Johns Hopkins University