There are hundreds of small items of junk orbiting Earth (in addition to hundreds of satellites)
Shutterstock/Dima Zel
Sensors primarily based on the quantum behaviour of tiny crystals could detect items of space debris hurtling in direction of satellites.
The US authorities estimates that there are round half 1,000,000 items of debris between 1 and 10 centimetres throughout, like chips from defunct satellites and rocket fragments, orbiting Earth. Some bits of space junk are tracked from the bottom with radar, however because the variety of satellites in orbit grows, so does the necessity for …