Chumley Chumley:
hurley_108 hurley_108:
I wonder if this will ultimately be the catalyst for a chain-reaction of collisions - debris disabling satellites which then crash into each other making yet more debris.
I bet they will be looking for someone to clean it up.
I knew all those years of playing asteroids would pay off!!!
You aren't far off. It could get so bad up there that we might not be able to launch anything else, without it being destroyed by debris (creating more debris).
The only way to clean it up would be 'ablative cascade'. High power lasers would be needed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ablation_cascadeThe US and China did a dozy too by using missiles to knock satellites down.