Space pollution is anything in space that is unnatural.
For example:
small shavings of paint or splinters of metal that come
from spacecraft and shuttles:
Although you may consider a shard of
paint or metal less than 1cm in size harmless, the paint shavings travel
at speeds of 5 miles a second. Many shuttle windows have had to be
replaced as small shards of paint and metal with the explosive power
of a bullet have hit the windows and destroyed them.
Damage is not restricted to windows either. A satellite was destroyed following a hit.
It is thought that at the moment there are about 150 000 pieces of
debris between 1cm and 10cm large. There are also about 10 000 larger
objects including spent satellites and rocket stages.
These larger pieces are constantly being tracked by radar
but the smaller pieces such as paint shards etc, and spanners
and other similar objects can be seen by radar but cannot be
tracked. For many generations US and Russian business and military
corporations assumed that they had the perfect dumping site on their
doorstep. However, they are now beginning to experience the effects
of previous assumptions, with collisions and damaging of satellites
and rockets.