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Tracking space junk in realtime via Google Earth

I’ve been bewildered lately by the amount of space junk (debris, inactive satellites, active satellites, etc) orbiting Earth. Not only is allowing this junk to remain in orbit irresponsible, it’s beginning to cause serious complications.

According to the Aero-News Network, last week “crewmembers onboard the International Space Station had to take the unusual step [..] of firing booster rockets to lower the station’s orbit, in order to avoid a chunk of space debris that may have come within a mile of the orbital platform.” In simpler terms, the ISS had to essentially dodge space junk for the first time in five years.

I recently ran across a Google Earth plugin that allows you to view all modern space debris, in real-time.

Via /. “What many people don’t know is that USSTRATCOM tracks and publishes a list of over 13,000 objects that they currently monitor, including active/retired satellites and debris. This data is meaningless to most people, but thanks to Analytical Graphics, it has now been made accessible free of charge to anyone with a copy of Google Earth. By grabbing the KMZ, you can not only view all objects tracked in real-time, but you can also click on them to get more information on the specific satellite, including viewing its orbit trajectory.”

The tiny dots below represent all active satellites, inactive satellites and debris that is currently orbiting Earth. Essentially, this is every man-made object out there.