In various locations in Argentina, metallic objects from outer space have fallen, as occurred in 1984 in Ayacucho or in 2025 in Armstrong. These incidents are not meteorites or alien spacecraft, but rather rocket debris and satellites that survive reentry into the atmosphere.
This phenomenon, technically known as uncontrolled atmospheric reentry, is on the rise due to increasing space activity. This has raised concerns among governments and scientists, who are seeking to address this emerging threat.
A Network to Monitor Space Debris
Scientists from the National University of La Plata (UNLP) have developed the Atmospheric Reentry and Impact Monitoring Project (MIRA), a pioneering system in Latin America. This initiative aims to detect and analyze space objects reentering the Earth’s atmosphere, providing crucial information for decision-making and public policy formulation.
Juan Cruz González Allonca, director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Space Studies (CIEE), explained that space debris has become a concrete territorial problem. The CIEE, operating in conjunction with the National Commission on Space Activities (CONAE), seeks to involve experts from various fields to tackle this challenge.
The MIRA team combines data from international databases with analysis models to monitor the growth of the problem. In the last five years, Latin America has recorded more reentries of space objects than in the previous fifteen years. This underscores the need to improve risk anticipation and management capabilities.
With over 15,000 active satellites and more than 1.2 million fragments of space debris orbiting the Earth, the risk of collision and the production of new debris is a growing concern. Although most of this debris disintegrates upon reentry into the atmosphere, some metallic components survive and reach the surface.
The MIRA Project also considers the possible environmental effects of this phenomenon, such as the release of particles into the atmosphere. These particles may have unknown impacts on the climate and the management of space traffic.
Additionally, the project offers tools to estimate reentry trajectories and alert about possible impacts, complementing with legal and political analyses to design effective regulations. Latin America needs to develop its own capabilities to manage information on space debris, something that has so far depended on sources from the United States and Europe.
The increasing space activity demands more effective management of space waste, and MIRA presents itself as a crucial tool to face this challenge. As space is increasingly utilized, the need to mitigate the impact of space debris becomes more urgent.
