According to the latest numbers from the ESA's Space Debris Office (SDO), there are roughly 6,900 artificial satellites in orbit. The situation is going to become exponentially crowded in the coming years, thanks to the many telecommunications, internet, and small satellites that are expected to be launched. This creates all kinds of worries for collision risks and space debris, not to mention environmental concerns.

For this reason, engineers, designers, and satellite manufacturers are looking for ways to redesign their satellites. Enter Max Justice, a cybersecurity expert, former Marine, and "Cyber Farmer" who spent many years working in the space industry. Currently, he is working towards a new type of satellite that is made out of mycelium fibers. This tough, heat-resistant, and environmentally friendly material could trigger a revolution in the booming satellite industry.

As it stands, one of the biggest concerns with satellites is the risk of collision they pose once they become defunct. Until such time that their orbit decays and they burn up in the atmosphere, satellites are likely to collide with each other and produce small pieces of space debris.

China is preparing to launch a rocket carrying supplies for its new space station just days after landing a rover on Mars, as it hustles ahead with its extraterrestrial ambitions.

Beijing has pumped billions into its space programme in a bid to make up ground on pioneers Russia and the United States, with ambitious projects in Earth orbit and the landing of uncrewed craft on the Moon and Mars.

But it was heavily reprimanded by the United States and many experts for a potentially dangerous breach of space etiquette for letting a massive rocket segment free-fall to Earth earlier this month after launching the core module of China's space station.

In the upcoming mission, the Tianzhou-2 cargo craft will blast off on a 14-tonne Long March 7 rocket, and is expected to carry essentials such as food and space suits to the core module.

A test version of ESA's Proba-V Companion CubeSat seen during preparation for 'thermal balance' testing in the Agency's Mechanical Systems Laboratory at its ESTEC technical centre in the Netherlands.

Space is a place where it is possible to be hot and cold at the same time, if one part of your satellite is in sunlight and another face in shade. A satellite's interior needs to maintain a steady temperature to go on operating properly.

Accordingly this 'structural and thermal model' of the Proba-V Companion CubeSat was placed inside the Large Vacuum Facility of ESA's Mechanical Systems Laboratory—employed to test large satellite systems or complete small satellites—for a week-long exposure to temperature extremes in space-quality vacuum.

Developed by prime contractor Aerospacelab in Belgium for ESA, this mission is a 12-unit 'CubeSat' – a small, low-cost satellite built up from standardized 10-cm boxes. It will fly a cut-down version of the vegetation-monitoring instrument aboard the Earth-observing Proba-V to perform experimental combined observations with its predecessor.

Launched in 2013, Proba-V was an innovative 'gap filler' mission between the Vegetation instruments monitoring global plant growth aboard the full-size Spot-4 and -5 satellites and compatible imagery coming from Copernicus Sentinel-3, the first of which flew in 2016.