eli5: Why is the Kessler effect so dangerous? Won’t the space junk eventually fall out of orbit or drift off into space?

Question

I saw the opening of *Gravity* and it was pretty terrifying, but to quote Billy Bob Thornton in *Armageddon*, it’s a big-ass sky.

In: 14

Answer 1

It will eventually deorbit or maybe get captured by the moon if it is high enough, but it will take a long time to deorbit, and until it does, there is a much bigger chance of hitting stuff in orbit, which is not good if you want functioning satellites.