WASHINGTON—There has been plenty of excitement in recent decades about planets detected orbiting various stars beyond our solar system. But planets provide an incomplete picture of the complex framework that exists around stars, leaving out components like the belts of rocky and icy debris orbiting our sun. Scientists on May 8 unveiled observations by the…

Canada’s Royal Air Force has deployed multiple aircraft to search for debris from an object that was shot down over the Yukon Territory on Feb. 11, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand has said. A CC-130H Hercules, two CC-138 Twin Otters, a CH-148 Cyclone, and a CH-149 Cormorant aircraft were deployed by the Royal Canadian Air Force to help…

CHISINAU, Moldova—Moldovan authorities said Saturday that the remains of a rocket “originating from Russia’s air attacks on Ukraine” was found by border officials in a northern village near the country’s border with war-torn Ukraine. Moldova’s Interior Ministry said in a statement that the rocket debris was discovered in the village of Larga, in Briceni county,…

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—The asteroid that got smacked by a NASA spacecraft is now being trailed by thousands of miles of debris from the impact. Astronomers captured the scene millions of miles away with a telescope in Chile. Their remarkable observation two days after last month’s planetary defense test was recently released a National Science Foundation…

MANILA, Philippines—Philippine officials have warned of possible danger to aircraft and ships from debris from a new Chinese rocket launch that might fall in northern Philippine waters, authorities said Thursday, adding no debris has been sighted so far. The Philippine Space Agency said the Chinese regime’s Long March 7A rocket was launched Tuesday night from…

A volunteer organization that has been cleaning up debris from a cargo ship that lost 109 containers off the B.C. coast last fall says the incident should be a wake-up call to the need for more urgent action. Alys Hoyland of the Surfrider Foundation’s Pacific Rim chapter in Tofino said urinal mats, coolers and other…

A unique observatory in the Australian outback is using FM radio waves to track the thousands of satellites orbiting above the country. A world-first, the passive radar space observatory is tracking space debris as far as 10,000 kilometers (6214 miles) away. “We’re seeing increasing traffic in the space domain, so what we’re doing with sensors…

A spacewalk planned for Tuesday to repair a faulty antenna on the International Space Station was postponed indefinitely, NASA said, citing a “debris notification” it received for the orbiting research laboratory. Two U.S. astronauts had been scheduled to venture outside the space station at 7:10 a.m. ET to begin their work, facing what NASA officials…

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—The International Space Station remains at increased risk from orbiting debris following this week’s Russian weapons test, NASA said on Thursday. On Monday, Russia launched a missile to destroy a satellite orbiting just above the space station. NASA said late Wednesday that the highest threat to the station and its seven residents was…

BEIJING—China launched into orbit last month the first piece of a permanent space station using its most powerful rocket, but international focus has fallen instead on the re-entry of debris which critics say has been shrouded in secrecy. What Happened? The Long March 5B rocket successfully delivered its payload into orbit on April 29, in…