The US Air Force is funding a $7.5 million research project aimed at preventing moon jams, The Hill reported.

Created in collaboration between the Air Force Research Laboratory and the University of Arizona, the initiative aims to avert potential hazards for the next generation of manned missions to the Moon, scheduled to launch in the 2020s, by mapping dozens of natural and man-made artifacts surrounding the planet.

Orbital space around the Earth is becoming extremely congested, so the Space Force and Air Force Research Laboratory is trying to get ahead of the problem around the Moon, said University of Arizona astronomer Roberto Furfaro.

University of Arizona staff member is concerned that there are probably more than 50 missions to the moon planned over the next eight years.

The researchers note that each successful launch is accompanied by the release of space debris, which invariably increases the likelihood of a collision.

According to NASA, there are more than 23,000 orbital debris larger than 10 cm" in Earth's orbit. In contrast, there are about a dozen objects orbiting the Moon.