There are thousands of small pieces of junk orbiting Earth (as well as thousands of satellites) Shutterstock/Dima Zel
Sensors based on the quantum behaviour of tiny crystals could detect pieces of space debris hurtling towards satellites.
The US government estimates that there are around half a million pieces of debris between 1 and 10 centimetres across, like chips from defunct satellites and rocket fragments, orbiting Earth. Some bits of space junk are tracked from the ground with radar, but as the number of satellites in orbit grows, so does the need for …
