The chance of someone being killed by space junk falling from the sky may seem ridiculously tiny.
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They found that there is a small, but significant, risk of parts re-entering in the coming decade.
But this is more likely to happen over southern latitudes than northern ones.
Unused fuel and batteries also lead to explosions in orbit which generate additional waste.
The new study warns that the 10% figure is therefore a conservative estimate.
The choice of orbit for a satellite can also reduce the chance of producing debris.
A defunct satellite can be programmed to move into low Earth orbit, where it will burn up.
Saudi officials inspect a crashed module in January 2001.
Many agencies do take the risks seriously.
The European Space Agency is planning a mission toattempt the capture and removal of space debriswith afour-armed robot.
And changes to international protocols and conventions take time.
In five years, it will be 70 years since thelaunch of the first satelliteinto space.
Ultimately, all nations would benefit from such an agreement.
