Space pollution poses an existential threat. Since the start of space exploration, countless spacecraft have disintegrated in outer space, leaving a ring of debris orbiting the Earth. The international space community has slowly realized that littering space is not a victimless crime. Space debris creates a pollution hazard. According to the calculations of the European Space Agency, more than 29,000 particles are already in low Earth orbit. Each one of them is guaranteed to destroy any spacecraft or orbital station. Building waste recycling plants in orbit is a remote but inevitable phase of the nearest space exploration.
Space debris