Written Translation Exercise - Chatarra en órbita
This time we're expanding our mind into outer space. 
This written translation exercise is for beginners to intermediate learners. However, anyone is welcome to participate. Do your best to translate this short paragraph, then post your answer. Even if you understand parts of it, post your attempt. Making mistakes is the only way to learn something new. 
Keep in mind that since others may have already posted an answer, you could look at their answers first... but... Where's the fun in that? 
For a look at how the previous exercise went, click here. There was good participation and good feedback. Thank you all for that. Further comments and suggestions are always welcome!
Chatarra en órbita
Imagínese la indignación resultante si los conductores abandonaran sus automóviles en las calles de la ciudad al quedarse sin combustible. Algo parecido está sucediendo con los satélites que ya no se usan, lo que aumenta el riesgo de que las naves espaciales más nuevas choquen con la chatarra en órbita. Se calcula que cerca de la órbita geoestacionaria —la posición preferida para los satélites de comunicaciones— hay unos mil ciento veinte objetos de más de 20 pulgadas de ancho, de los cuales solo 300 siguen en funcionamiento.
Update: Thank you all for participating! Here is the 'answer'.
13 Answers
Space Junk
Imagine the outrage that would follow if drivers abandoned their cars on the city streets when they ran out of fuel. Something like that is happening with the satelites that are no longer being used, which increases the risk of newer spacecraft colliding with the junk in orbit. It is estimated that close to the geostationery orbit - the favoured position for communication satellites - there are about one thousand one hundred and twenty objects of more than twenty inches across, of which only three hundred are still operational.
Chatarra en órbita
Imagínese la indignación resultante si los conductores abandonaran sus automóviles en las calles de la ciudad al quedarse sin combustible. Algo parecido está sucediendo con los satélites que ya no se usan, lo que aumenta el riesgo de que las naves espaciales más nuevas choquen con la chatarra en órbita. Se calcula que cerca de la órbita geoestacionaria —la posición preferida para los satélites de comunicaciones— hay unos mil ciento veinte objetos de más de 20 pulgadas de ancho, de los cuales solo 300 siguen en funcionamiento.
Scrap in orbit
Imagine the resulting indignation if drivers were to abandon their automobiles in the streets of the city having run out of fuel. Something similar is happening with satellites that are no longer in use, which increases the risk that newer space ships will collide with the scrap in orbit. It's estimated that near the geostationary orbit ---the preferred position for communication satellites ---there are some one thousand one hundred and twenty objects larger than 20 inches wide, of which only 300 continue to operate.
just found out that 'geostationary' and 'geosynchronous' are not equal terms. One is slightly different than the other.
Technically they are different, but the orbits in question are actually geosynchronous and not geostationary. I used to work at JPL in the Solar System Dynamics Group and I am very familiar with the terminology. There are very few objects (ie. none) that are in strictly geostationary orbits due to the fact that the Earth is not spherically symmetric and placing an object precisely at a gravitational minimum is not possible. Because of this the two terms are used interchangeably in practice.
Imagine the indignation that would result if drivers abandoned their cars in the streets because they ran out of gas. Something similar is happening in space with satellites that are no longer used, causing increased risk to space navigation and more collisions with the junk in orbit. It is estimated that in geostationary orbit – the preferred position for communication satellites – there are 120,000 objects more than twenty inches wide, of which 300 are functional.
Translation virgin no more.
Junk in Orbit Imagine an outrage caused by drivers abandoning their cars on the city streets when running out of petrol. Something similar is happening with satellites which are already out of use, which puts new spacecraft at higher risk of crashing against pieces of orbital junk. It is estimated that near the geostationary orbit – the favoured position for communication satellites – there are about one thousand one hundred and twenty objects more than 20 inches wide out of which only 300 still work.
Junk in orbit
Imagine the resulting anger if drivers abandoned their cars on the streets of the city when they run out of fuel. Something similar is happening with satellites that are no longer used, which increases the risk that newer spacecraft might collide with the junk in orbit. It is estimated that close to the geostationary orbit -- the preferred position for communication satellites -- there is one thousand, one hundred and twenty objects larger than 20 inches wide, of which only 300 are still operating.
Scrap in Orbit
Imagine the outrage if car drivers abandoned their autos without fuel on city streets. Something similar to that is happening with satellites that are no longer in use, increasing the risk of collision between the newest spacecraft and the junk in orbit. It is calculated that near the geosynchronous orbit - the preferred position for communications satellites - there are about 1120 objects more than 20" wide of which only 300 are in operation.
Junk in orbit
Imagine the resulting indignation if drivers abandoned their cars in the city's streets when they ran out of gas. Something similar is happening with the satellites that aren't being used anymore which increases the risk that the newer space shuttles might collide with the junk (scrap) in space. It is estimated that near the geostationary orbit -- the preferred position for communication satellites -- there are about 1,120 objects larger than 20 inches wide of which only 300 continue to work.
Junk In Orbit
Imagine the chaotic affect if drivers abandoned their cars in the city streets upon running out of gas. Something similar is happening with satellites that are no longer being utilized, something that adds to the risk of the newest space ships colliding with waste in orbit. It is estimated that near the geostationary orbit--the preferred position for communication satellites--there are some 1,120 objects larger than 20 inches wide, of which only 300 are still functional.
Junk in Orbit
Imagine the indignation that would happen if drivers abandoned their cars in the city streets whenever they ran out of gas. Something like that is happening with the satellites that are no longer in use, increasing the risk that new spacecraft will crash into the junk in orbit. They calculate that near the geostationary orbit--the preferred position for communication satellites--there are around eleven hundred objects more than 20 inches across, of which only 300 still function.
Este es mi primera tentativa en la traducción sin un diccionario.
Wow! Honorable mention indeed! Thank you! I actually didn't think there was much interest in these exercises. I enjoyed doing them, and I'm glad someone enjoys participating.
You even get Carlos on this exercise!! I mean....
Carlos, no way you are not participating in my threads under the circumstances! 
That will be more difficult and more challenging The translations will be much more difficult to do
Everyone did so well this time! I had a hard time picking the best. I had to choose between hithere3387's answer and Sheila's. And it really came down to the difference in one word: spacecraft vs. spaceships. In the end I went with Sheila as explained below. I wish there was a 'second place' accept button, because I would have clicked it for hithere! (Maybe if someone sees this they can give him an extra vote. I can only give him one. )
Here is my answer:
Orbiting Junk
Imagine the outrage if drivers abandoned their cars on city streets after they ran out of fuel. Something similar is happening to satellites that are no longer used, increasing the risk that newer spacecraft will collide with orbiting junk. It is estimated that some 1,120 objects larger than 20 inches across are close to the geostationary ring, the favored oposition for communications satellites, but only 300 of these are operational.
This is good learning opportunity regarding a couple of phrases in this exercise.
space ships / space shuttles / spacecraft
These were all offered for the phrase "las naves espaciales". In this context the word 'spacecraft' best renders this phrase. The others were a little too specific, since satellites would be included in the danger and are not generally thought of as space shuttles/ships.
spacecrafts
The word spacecraft is a mass noun, referring to one or more objects, therefore it will never be rendered 'spacecrafts'.
Se calcula...
Even though a literal translation might use the word calculate, this is a common way to render the phrase 'it is estimated...'. (Only Lorenzo9 translated this one differently, and considering that he did the exercise off the top of his head it is an understandable rendering. )
geoestacionaria = geosynchronous ? or geostationary?
I thought they were equal terms. However I did some research and found that a geostationary orbit is a geosynchronous orbit, but not every geosynchronous orbit is geostationary. Confused? Well according to two Wiki articles I read, a geosynchronous orbit is an orbit with an orbital period that matches the earth's rotation period, but that can be at any point over the planet. This is true of a geostationary orbit but the difference is that geostationary only refers to directly over the equator.
Anybody else?
