LA PLATA, Maryland — The number of satellite and rocket stage in-orbit fragmentations, whether from exploding batteries or fuel sources or other reasons, is averaging 10 per year, with no sign of diminishing, and includes newer satellites in addition to long-retired spacecraft, according to the European Space Agency’s annual Space Environment Report on orbital debris.
“This number doesn’t improve a lot over time,” Holger Krag, head of ESA’s Space Safety program, said April 1 in a press briefing in Bonn, Germany, at the opening of . . .
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