About 48 tons of space debris enters Earth's atmosphere every day.

Earth is constantly sweeping up material left over from the solar system's formation. Most of it is dust — micrometeoroids too small to see. But the total mass adds up. NASA and other agencies estimate roughly 48 metric tons (about 105,000 pounds) of extraterrestrial material enters our atmosphere daily. The vast majority burns up harmlessly. Only the larger pieces create visible meteors. Even fewer survive to become meteorites.