Worried about space junk, the United States requires operators to clean up abandoned satellites within five years after the satellite is out of service.

Beijing, September 9 (Xinhua)-- US regulators are worried that with the launch of a new generation of thousands of satellites, space junk in orbit will surge, so operators are required to clean up scrapped spacecraft more quickly.

Low-Earth orbit is the area where space junk is most concentrated.

According to a proposal released on Thursday by Jessica Jessica Rosenworcel, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), operators would need to get them out of orbit within five years after the satellite is out of service, compared with the current requirement of 25 years. The bill will be voted on in FCC on September 29 and is expected to be passed.

FCC said scrapped satellites, scrapped rocket cores and other rubbish now fill the space environment, posing challenges to future missions. "Orbital junk poses a major risk to our country's space ambitions," FCC said in its proposal. There are more than 4800 satellites in operation, and "there will be more in the future."

At present, Musk's SpaceX is a major satellite launcher in the United States. The company has set up a "Star chain" satellite Internet project, which aims to create a constellation of thousands of satellites to cover the broadband Internet to the ground. SpaceX currently has about 3000 satellites in orbit, and its goal is to eventually deploy 42000. NASA has previously expressed concern about SpaceX's satellite program, saying it will increase traffic jams and potential collision risks in limited orbital space.