The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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Chart showing the evolution of the tracked and published space object population and its composition by object class.
The horizontal axis corresponds to year, and runs through to 2017. The vertical axis corresponds to number of objects, including all categories of debris objects (yellow to green) as well as intact satellites (red).
The latest updated version of this chart can be accessed in the ESA Space Debris User Portal.