00:00 [Music]
00:03 Low orbit around Earth is getting increasingly cluttered,
00:06 all due to new and old satellites filling up that area around our planet's atmosphere.
00:11 According to a United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs study conducted last year,
00:15 there are currently some 8,261 satellites zipping around Earth at high speeds,
00:20 and the owner of one of them has just been fined in a world first.
00:24 US authorities have just handed a $150,000 fine to telecommunications company DISH
00:30 for a "failure to properly de-orbit a satellite."
00:33 The orbiter in question is the EchoStar 7 satellite.
00:36 First launched way back in 2002, and after it was decommissioned,
00:40 the company was supposed to move it around 186 miles up in altitude
00:44 to avoid collisions with other satellites.
00:47 However, it was running out of fuel, so they instead moved it around just 75 miles,
00:51 meaning a collision is much more likely.
00:54 The fine was issued by the Federal Communications Commission,
00:56 with the organization saying about it, quote,
00:59 "This is a breakthrough settlement, making very clear the FCC has strong enforcement authority
01:04 and capability to enforce its vitally important space debris rules."
01:08 This comes as the European Space Agency recently released a report
01:11 finding there are upwards of a million pieces of debris currently in orbit,
01:15 which could pose a risk to spacecraft.
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