What if Space Junk and Climate Change Become the Same Problem? Changes to the atmosphere caused by carbon dioxide emissions could increase the amount of debris that stays in orbit. A long exposure showing a string of SpaceX StarLink satellites over Florence, Kan., this month.Credit...Reed Hoffmann/Associated Press By Jonathan O’Callaghan May 12, 2021, 12:38 p.m. ET It’s easy to compare the space junk problem to climate change. Human activities leave too many dead satellites and fragments of machinery discarded in Earth orbit. If left unchecked, space junk could pose significant problems for future generations — rendering access to space increasingly difficult, or at worst, impossible.