“before Earth’s atmosphere drags them down and burns them up.”
Gravity is what pulls it down. The atmosphere is what burns it up.
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The atmosphere provides drag which slows the debris.
Well at least it will burn up.
Somewhere it was said if space debris is not cleaned up we will be trapped on this planet until the sun becomes a red giant and cooks us alive.
Someone figured out how to clean up trash in the ocean.
We need the same thing for space.