Explore a series of NASA visualizations tracking satellites and space debris

Visualize the impact of satellites and space debris orbiting Earth

According to NASA, approximately 9,000 metric tons of debris are orbiting Earth, with 70% of it located in low Earth orbit, where the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station reside. The growing reliance on space-based platforms for modern technologies, including Starlink satellites, increases the risk of debris collisions.

Visualizing Earth's space garbage

An unsavory byproduct of humanity's brilliant exploration of space, the Moon, and more, is the rapid production of space debris floating around in orbit. Its estimated over 25,000 objects are in orbit, a number that grows everyday as satellites are decommissioned, rockets enter orbit, and more. Now, you can visualize what this debris looks like from a zoomed-out perspective with this brief video.

By 2028, a space trash-avoiding maneuver is expected to occur every 18 seconds

As the number of active Starlink satellites increases, greater efforts will be required to keep low Earth orbit free of debris, sparking a new technological space race. NASA has found that using lasers to manage small and medium debris could save up to $9B over 30 years.

In 2023, there were nearly as many payloads in LOE as trackable pieces of debris

In 2021, the European Space Agency estimated that more than 130 million space debris objects larger than 1 millimeter were in low Earth orbit, though only about 22,000 were being tracked. As of late 2025, the tracked total exceeds 49,000.

There are trillions of pieces of space trash that are too small to be tracked

Although scientists monitor more than 24,000 pieces of large orbital debris, space junk can be as small as a paint fleck. The density of this trash is steadily increasing with the growth of the space industry on Earth.

As of 2025, over 131 million pieces of debris orbit Earth

These pieces range in size from a grain of sand to the size of a bus and orbit with an average speed of 10 kilometers per second.

Rising satellite numbers pose increased risks of planes being hit by falling debris

Projections of more than 100,000 satellites in space by the 2030s—eight times the number in 2025—highlight a growing threat to aviation. Experts suggest the odds could reach seven in 10,000 annually by 2035, alongside higher risks to people on the ground.

Explore the known asteroids, comets, and spacecraft involved in asteroid studies within our solar system with 'Eyes on Asteroids,' a 3D visualization from NASA.

Explore the known asteroids, comets, and spacecraft involved in asteroid studies within our solar system with 'Eyes on Asteroids,' a 3D visualization from NASA.

Explore a gallery of space-based images and animations of Earth

This collection compiles shots of well-known locations, such as US national parks, and natural features, including aurora borealis and fall foliage, to provide a high-level view of Earth's surface.

Explore an interactive visualization of the solar system

This tool allows you to view the orbits of planets, dwarf planets, moons, asteroids, and other significant objects in the solar system. Clicking on an object reveals key facts and historical data.

Play a space junk collection game

Developed by Astroscale, a company with a contract from the UK to remove satellites from orbit safely, the game enables players to simulate the company's planned COSMIC mission and test their space debris-catching skills.

NASA monitors potentially hazardous asteroids and comets

Established in 2016, the Planetary Defense Coordination Office characterizes and tracks asteroids and comets passing within 30 million miles of Earth. Over 40,000 near-Earth asteroids have been discovered, although estimates suggest that about 14,000 more such objects remain to be found.

A data visualization exploring six decades of spacewalks

Astronauts' initial small step for mankind may standout, but how many steps have we taken so far? Space and moonwalks further our understanding of spaceflight, celestial bodies, and space itself. Created to resemble a constellation map, this chart...

Find which comets are currently visible in the night sky

Incorporating sightings reported in the Comet Observation database and information from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, this list provides a finder chart, star map, tracker, simulated orbit, and key properties for each comet, all viewable based on a user's input position on Earth.

See who is in space right now

Over 600 people have been in space since the space race took off decades ago, with roughly 10 in space at any given time, typically operating the world's growing number of space stations. This fun, simple tracker keeps up on who is in space right now and provides links to each space traveler's profile.

Using AI to track plastic pollution in real time

Explore Global Plastic Watch, the first-ever, near-real-time, high-resolution map of plastic pollution. Global Plastic Watch uses advanced satellite data technology and machine learning to measure piles of plastic waste from space.

Explore every meteor shower from space

Every year, Earth travels through a series of meteor showers—the Perseids in August, the Lyrids in April—and a fraction of them light up the sky as they hit the atmosphere. Explore each group of meteors with this fascinating, year-round interactive.

Explore our favorite visualization of the immense scale of space, from an astronaut to the size of the observable universe

Watch how the Space Shuttle launched

This 3D visualization illustrates the Space Shuttle launch, breaking down the roles of the solid rocket boosters, main engines, the crawler transporter, and the timing sequence that carried the vehicle from liftoff to orbit.

Track the current size of the Antarctic ozone hole with NASA's real-time data

NASA's Ozone Watch provides daily satellite images and time-lapse videos showing the extent of the Antarctic ozone hole. Each spring, scientists monitor its size and depth to measure recovery progress and detect any new chemical or climatic disruptions.

Voyager science teams still collect valuable space data using four active tools

These instruments track magnetic fields, solar wind particles, radio emissions from the heliopause, and hydrogen levels in the outer heliosphere. Even though each Voyager sends data at just 160 bits per second, NASA receives 6–8 hours of tracking data daily.

Ten everyday NASA inventions (likely) in your home

As a public agency, NASA's goals aren't just in space, but for life on Earth, too. That's why so many everyday objects including memory foam, cordless tools, and golf balls are rooted in research first developed by space-faring engineers and scientists. Peruse this quirky list of some of those everyday objects destined for space that are also probably somewhere inside your home.

See a timeline of James Webb Space Telescope discoveries

Since its launch on Christmas Day 2021, NASA's $10B James Webb Space Telescope has captivated the world with its rapid revelations of ancient galaxies, star-formation hotbeds, and more. This regularly updated timeline of Webb's discoveries keeps you up to date with the latest developments.

Visualizing the growth of botnets

Botnets are a network of computers that have been infected with a variant of malware that coordinates and leverages them for automated mass attacks such as data theft and crashing servers. This interactive map highlights where botnets have been located between 2014-2020.

Stratospheric balloons: a visual guide

In late January 2023, a Chinese high-altitude balloon, believed to be for surveillance purposes, traversed the US and caused a diplomatic stir. The technology itself is established—though typically used for atmospheric measurements. This visual...

Visualize the path of every solar eclipse from 1900 to 2099 and see what each looks like when observed from different locations on Earth.

The current federal budget, deficit, and debt, in charts

The US Treasury regularly publishes updated data on the federal budget, and this site hosts visualizations of that data. See reports on spending, revenues, deficits, and where the national debt stands.

Track the location of the Voyager probes, currently between 13 and 15 billion miles away from Earth.

Apollo astronauts left items in the moon's 'toss zone,' including golf balls, family photos, and bags of human waste, to make room for lunar rocks.

Stars appear to twinkle because turbulence in the motion of molecules in Earth's atmosphere causes light to bend and wiggle rapidly on its way to the surface—a phenomenon called scintillation.

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company, including its unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.

See the 25 of the best photos of auroras from around the world.

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

Explore fun facts from the USPS, including unique post office buildings, a stamp that traveled past Pluto, and more.

This real-time tracking of the hantavirus cruise ship outbreak in May 2026 offers a unique glimpse into the global reach of the outbreak and whether the virus sickened passengers and their communities around the world.

Roughly 43 million US borrowers owe roughly $1.7T in student debt, the second-largest source of consumer debt behind mortgages.

See these 16 pieces of art evoking phobias of snakes, flying, spiders, and more. 

Astronauts have repaired genetic damage in space using CRISPR—a molecular tool that can make precise changes to DNA and is used in single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses.

Power lines are dotted with large, brightly colored balls to improve the visibility of these thin wires to helicopters and small planes and help prevent potential crashes.

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

Watch how deep-sea mining equipment collects and processes polymetallic nodules—metal-rich, potato-shaped rocks—from the ocean floor and creates environmentally damaging plumes of sediments.

Explore an interactive map of battles from the American Revolution, along with detailed summaries of each engagement

11 people died from firework injuries in the US in 2024.

In 2019, a laptop loaded with six of the worst malware in history and described as 'an exhibit of historical weaponry' sold for $1.3M.

Browse a detailed visual analysis of over 200,000 similes—comparisons that often use 'like' or 'as'—from popular fiction to see how frequently writers the same idiomatic expressions.

When you complete a CAPTCHA on a website to prove you are human, you may be unknowingly training algorithms for self-driving cars, whose systems require training data to help identify crosswalks, bicycles, and other outdoor objects.

Sunflowers have long been a symbol of nuclear disarmament because they can extract large amounts of radioactive cesium from soil.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

Alzheimer's can lead to brain shrinkage, with an average of around 2% of volume reduction per year