These countries are polluting space the most, shows data. How does India rank

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From worn down satellites to flakes of paint, space exploration leaves behind debris that poses a challenge to current and future programmes. Organisations like NASA have been actively involved in studying how its spaceflights are at risk from debris.

Using data from NASA itself, German database company Statista has released a list of countries producing the most space junk.

Russia was first, with over 7,000 rocket bodies and other debris, Statista reported citing data as of February 4, 2022 from NASA's Orbital Debris Quarterly News.

Second was the United States with 5,216 pieces of debris. China stood third with 3,845.

Japan, France and India took the fourth, fifth and sixth spots, respectively with 520, 117 and 114 debris pieces.

The European Space Agency as a whole took the seventh rank (60 pieces). Eighth was the United Kingdom with one.

Countries also generate harmful debris by using missiles to practice blowing up their own satellites. This has been done to test anti-satellite (ASAT) capabilities.

One of the tools in use to deal with space debris is NASA's Bumper. It helps the agency determine how likely it is for a spacecraft to be damaged by debris in its operational lifetime.