Man-made satellites in low Earth orbit used to be a rarity. There were only a few in the 1950s and some after. But now, there are thousands of satellites flying overhead and there will be more.
The first satellite in space was the Soviet Union's Sputnik in 1957. After that until the 2010s, about 10 to 60 satellites were flown into space per year. After that, the number increased so rapidly.
In 2020, there were more than 1,300 new satellites flown and an increase of 1,400 in 2021. In total, according to Outer Space Objects Index data, in September 2021 there were about 7,500 active satellites operating in low-Earth orbit.
"This number will increase exponentially in the coming decades. That's because private companies create constellations each with thousands of satellites, which will be used for fast internet networks and other services," wrote Live Science.
Call it SpaceX, has launched many satellites for Starlink internet service. Not to mention other than private companies, there are several countries that intend to build their own constellation to broadcast the internet.
Of course, there will be negative impacts that will be caused by the increasing number of satellites going back and forth in space. Garbage from inactive satellites and traffic management will become an increasingly problematic issue.
"This number of satellites will cause traffic management problems, will also increase space debris, interfere with astronomy and vision into space, and rocket launches cause pollution in the atmosphere," said Aaron Boley, an astronomer at the University of British Columbia.
Space debris has become a very serious issue. At this time, according to the Natural History Museum, there are at least 128 million pieces of debris in low-Earth orbit. Of that number, about 34 thousand pieces are more than 10 cm in size so they can be dangerous.