Scrapheap in the sky: Rising levels of space debris threaten to obliterate satellites and knockout internet access. Meet the organisations racing to stop the junk in its tracks

THE YEAR BEFORE Elon Musk launched his first string of Starlink satellites, he dispatched a midnight cherry Tesla Roadster, ‘driven' by a spacesuit-clad mannequin, on top of his Falcon Heavy rocket. Today, ‘Starman' and his Tesla continue to spin through space at several thousand miles per hour while more than 1,000 Starlink satellites have reached Earth orbit to deliver high-speed satellite internet across the globe. But we have a problem.