Orbital debris and ISS avoidance maneuvers
Claim in the list: More than 70,000 tonnes of human-made debris and over 10,000 fragments are in Earth orbit, so the ISS regularly performs avoidance maneuvers.
Verification: The figures and wording need correction. ESA’s 2025 Space Environment Report estimated the total mass of human-made objects in orbit at about 15,100 tonnes at the end of 2024, not 70,000 tonnes. ESA estimates more than 50,000 objects larger than 10 cm and over 1.2 million fragments larger than 1 cm; “over 10,000” is outdated or too low if referring to large tracked objects. The ISS does periodically perform avoidance maneuvers when calculated collision risk warrants them, but not on a fixed regular schedule.
Conclusion: Earth orbit contains tens of thousands of tracked fragments and over a million pieces larger than 1 cm; ESA’s 2025 report put total mass near 15,000 tonnes. The ISS maneuvers when needed.