[lkbm]

As I understand it, the majority of junk is 1. 480 million copper pins the US military put into orbit[0] and 2. 150k pieces of junk from the Chinese anti-satellite weapon test/demonstration[1].

So if we're going to charge someone for this, first and foremost are the US and Chinese militaries.

Who's going to make them pay up?

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_West_Ford [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Chinese_anti-satellite_mi...

[aikinai]

Thanks for linking to the interesting story, but it doesn’t agree with your comment. Wikipedia says there are only 36 clumps of needles left in orbit.

[gridspy]

*36 known clumps

Individual needles are probably too small for radar to track, but not too small to punch a hole in your vessel.

Fortunately some have re-entered.

[lkbm]

Good catch. I didn't fully reread it before posting. I was also unsure if the individual needles were still around, but the article says they'd have decayed after ~3 years, so it's just those few clumps that are relevant.

[jcun4128]

that is cool "artificial ionosphere"