How come the space station needs to fire a rocket regularly to stay in orbit, but dangerous space junk can stay up there indefinitely?

The space station needs to fire its thrust ers regularly to maintain its orbit because it is a man - made object that is designed to operate within a specific set of parameters . The thrust ers are used to adjust the station ' s orbit and keep it from falling back down to Earth . \n \n On the other hand , space j unk is typically de br is that has been left behind by previous space miss ions or explos ions in space . It is not designed to operate like a space station , and it does not have the same level of control over its orbit . As a result , it can remain in orbit in def initely unless it is act ively track ed and removed . \n \n It ' s also worth not ing that space j unk can pose a danger to other objects in space , including the space station . If a piece of space j unk were to col lide with the station , it could cause damage or even pose a threat to the safety of the astr onaut s on board . For this reason , it is important to track and remove space j unk whenever possible . </s>