Any piece of equipment or debris left in space by humans is known as space rubbish or space debris. It can be used to describe large objects like satellites that have failed or failed and were left in orbit after their missions. It can also be used to describe tiny objects like paint flecks or debris that have fallen off a rocket.

Every piece of space junk is a product of Earth-launched items that stay in orbit until they re-enter the atmosphere.

Some objects can return fast in lower orbits of a few hundred kilometers. After a few years, they frequently re-enter the atmosphere and, for the most part, burn up, preventing them from reaching the ground. But at greater altitudes of 36,000 km, where communications and weather satellites are frequently deployed in geostationary orbits, trash or satellites left behind can continue to circle the Earth for hundreds or even thousands of years.

On July 24, 1996, a component of the upper stage of a European Ariane rocket collided with Cerise, a French microsatellite, becoming the first collision between a functioning satellite and a piece of space junk. Despite being hurt, Cerise was still able to function. Iridium 33, a communications satellite owned by the American company Motorola, collided with Cosmos 2251, an inactive Russian military communications satellite, on February 10, 2009, about 760 km (470 miles) above northern Siberia, shattering both satellites. This collision was the first to destroy an operational satellite.

All businesses are required by the United Nations to remove their satellites from orbit within 25 years of the completion of their mission. However, because satellites can malfunction—and frequently do—it is difficult to enforce this. Numerous businesses from around the world have developed creative methods to address this issue.

Sources:

1. What is space junk and why is it a problem? | Natural History Museum 

2. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/news/orbital_debris.html