I know space junk can fall to earth but does it ever go the other way and fly off into deep space?

Question

I know space junk can fall to earth but does it ever go the other way and fly off into deep space?

In: 1

Answer 1

No, because to fly off into space a piece of debris would need to get a push from something. It falls to Earth because there’s still some (very thin) air up there, gradually slowing it down. There’s nothing up there to do the opposite and push stuff out of orbit.