Removing these 50 objects from orbit would cut danger from space junk in half - Ars Technica

"In their rush to move quickly, they are adding to the long-term collision hazard." - Stephen Clark 

A new listing of the 50 most concerning pieces of space debris in low-Earth orbit is dominated by relics more than a quarter-century old, primarily dead rockets left to hurtle through space at the end of their missions...

• That's important to note, especially with some disturbing trends right now."

The 50 objects identified by McKnight and his coauthors are the ones most likely to drive the creation of more space junk in low-Earth orbit (LEO) through collisions with other debris fragments.  

Here's the Top 10:

• A Russian SL-16 rocket launched in 2004
• Europe's Envisat satellite launched in 2002
• A Japanese H-II rocket launched in 1996
• A Chinese CZ-2C rocket launched in 2013
• A Soviet SL-8 rocket launched in 1985
• A Soviet SL-16 rocket launched in 1988
• Russia's Kosmos 2237 satellite launched in 1993
• Russia's Kosmos 2334 satellite launched in 1996
• A Soviet SL-16 rocket launched in 1988
• A Chinese CZ-2D rocket launched in 2019...