Watch: This is the amount of 'space junk' orbiting our Earth!

New Delhi: Turns out a lot of space in the space has been invaded! According to NASA, there are over 50,000 pieces of debris (space junk) traveling at speeds up to 17,500 mph around the Earth.

The rising population of space debris increases the potential danger to all space vehicles, but especially to the International Space Station, space shuttles and other spacecraft with humans aboard.

To track this 'space junk' problem a video has been released by the Royal Institution of Great Britain which outlines the space junk pollution since Sputnik was launched in 1957. See how the debris has exponentially increased since then!

Video courtesy: Stuart Grey/YouTube