The argument that space is getting more and more crowded has been going on for several years now.

With the development of space technology, a new launch vehicle sends a large number of satellites into Earth orbit almost every week.

How many satellites are actually in Earth's orbit? Will space become even more crowded in the future?

SpaceX's plans for the Starlink Internet satellite network have many people concerned about how crowded Earth's orbit is.

SpaceX's first 60 Starlink satellites were detected by many astronomical observation devices the day after they were successfully put into orbit.

The number of star chain satellites continues to grow and is even beginning to affect astronomical observation activities in many regions.

There are about 7,941 public satellites in Earth's orbit, of which the number of Starlink satellites is 1,791.

The ultimate plan for Starlink is to launch 12,000 satellites, a number that already exceeds the total number of satellites currently in orbit.

Yet Earth's orbit is not the only place where satellites are normally in orbit.

Astronomers say that many older satellites have been lost, that these satellites are not accounted for, and that many have been delisted due to collisions, but pieces of these satellites are still floating in space orbit.

Most importantly, humans are launching satellites with increasing frequency.

Since 2010, around 60-100 satellites have been launched every year.

And in 2020, humans launched more than 1,300 satellites in one year.

The year 2021 was even more rapid, just by September, mankind had launched 1400 satellites, and the number of satellites in Earth's orbit, there is a spurt of increase.

The root cause of the increasing crowding of Earth's orbit is that satellite launches are becoming simpler and simpler.

Firstly, launching satellites into space has become a "simple" matter, and the success rate of launching launch vehicles is getting higher and higher so that mankind can even send artificial satellites and probes to Mars.

Secondly, the size of satellites is getting smaller and smaller, with the development of electronic technology, the size of satellites is much smaller, but the function is more abundant.

According to scientists, 94% of the satellites launched throughout 2020 will be small satellites, individually weighing less than 600 kilograms.

The rapid growth of satellites has created a potentially adverse effect.

The crowding of the Earth's orbit is beginning to allow satellites to have high-risk close encounters, and with the completion of Internet satellite networks such as Starlink, the crowding of the Earth's orbit is set to increase even further.

The second is the large number of satellites, which has begun to affect astronomical observations, many of which are obscured by satellites in 70% of their viewing area.