Space debris, also known as space junk, space waste, space garbage and so on, is a term for the mass of defunct, artificially created objects in space. This includes old satellites and spent rocket stages. As of December 2016, five satellites have collided, generating further debris/trash above Earth.

As of 5 July 2016, 17,852 artificial objects had been tracked by United States Strategic Command, however these represent only the objects big enough to be detected. Collision with debris has become a hazard to spacecraft. With the coming boom in cube satellites, more organisations will need a policy on collecting their own debris from launches, a type of clean-up policy. New technologies will need to be introduced and developed for the collection of space debris. Australia can play a role in collecting space debris while generating capital in the collection of such debris.