Much like how "garbage collection" is industry terminology referring to a specific feature of memory management in programming languages, "space junk" is also i

Much like how "garbage collection" is industry terminology referring to a specific feature of memory management in programming languages, "space junk" is also industry terminology that's specific in its meaning: > Space debris (also known as space junk, space pollution, space waste, space trash, space garbage, or cosmic debris) are defunct human-made objects in space – principally in Earth orbit – which no longer serve a useful function. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_debris https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_debris If it's no longer in space, it's no longer "space junk".