How to avoid "zombie" satellites causing atmospheric destruction? Send them to this ocean graveyard

In the U.S., the average person produces 4.9 pounds of trash a day. When a satellite nears the end of its life, it is either sent outward to the “graveyard orbit,” past the geosynchronous region where most satellites orbit, or brought back down to Earth in a region known as the “satellite graveyard.” The idea is to not leave satellites just hanging around in space, said Carolin Frueh, Ph.D., an associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics at Purdue University. Several hundred spacecraft remnants have fallen into this area of the ocean since the space junk issue arrived on the space agency’s radar in the 1980s, Seitzer said. As Sen. John Hickenlooper from Colorado, one of the leaders to introduce the bill, said: “Because of the threats from debris already in orbit, simply preventing more debris in the future is not enough.” We need your help to stay independent Subscribe today to support Salon's progressive journalism Yet while it’s necessary to throw away our space trash responsibly, it’s also important to consider the environmental impact that these objects have when they burn up through the atmosphere on the way down, Frueh said. The Space Surveillance Network is currently tracking 50,000 objects orbiting Earth but that could increase to some 400,000 satellites if private companies like SpaceX and Amazon continue launching new ones in the coming years, Seitzer said.