Deaths from falling out of bed in the USTracked orbital debris objects
Between 2005 and 2021, more Americans fell from their beds and more debris accumulated in orbit, and the two have risen together (r = 0.957) in a combination that feels like the universe running gravity jokes at two different scales. The mattress delivers; low Earth orbit delivers; both have become more dangerous places than they used to be.
US deaths from falls from bed climbed from about 460 per year to nearly 900, concentrated in the 75+ demographic; tracked orbital debris objects grew from about 13,000 in 2005 to over 33,000 by 2021, as anti-satellite tests (the 2007 Chinese Fengyun-1C and the 2021 Russian Cosmos-1408) created thousands of new fragments that persist for decades. Both are stories of accumulated population that doesn't easily clear itself: aging Americans and orbital junk share the unfortunate property that the baseline goes up, and the individual cases are hard to remove without considerable intervention. The estimated cost of a single debris-removal mission is about $50 million, which is roughly the lifetime healthcare cost of one elderly American with a femur fracture.
A mattress parts ways with its sleeper. A fragment passes overhead at 7.5 km per second. Both categories, unresolved.
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Want to learn more about why correlations like “Deaths from falling out of bed in the US” vs “Tracked orbital debris objects” don't prove causation? Read our guide to statistical thinking.
